Just came back from a trip this weekend. The place made me feel I was in the movie "The Great Outdoors" except no Ol' 96er in sight. Very rustic, dark wood everywhere that gives you that log cabin feel. I'll echo the comments about the floor - spongy and not overly pleasant.

Our room was decent, nothing special about it other than a toilet that didn't flush properly and prompted us to use the public bathrooms (which were nicer anyway). The shower tub was in pretty bad condition as the tub deformed as I stepped on it and would stick and release, indicating to me that a layer must've detached from its adhesive. Sound proofing in pretty non-existent but to be fair, it's an old property so I would expect much.

The main lobby has a massive fireplace which was rather impressive. We did receive the platinum amenity of sponge cake, local maple syrup, ginger pastries and a tube (think travel-sized toothpaste) of honey. Also never had this before, but our turndown service included personalized, larger-format Le Labo shampoo, conditioner etc. I thought it was neat, Mrs. Smokinmike wanted to know why she wasn't included in the label.

The property itself is quite expansive. Along the shore of the Ottawa river, it has bike/walking trails (free bike rentals, including the BMW bikes), some Muskoka chair loungers (could've definitely used more as they're pretty sparsely spread out), outdoor and indoor pool. It also has Manoir Papineau on the property, if you're interested in Canadian history. Tickets for the guided tour of the house are free for Canada's 150th celebration and there are separate English and French language tours. Down the main street are small little shops, bistros, a convenience store, a cheese outlet, and a chocolate store.

They have a firepit in the western side of the property, where bonfires are held. Spa is located at the indoor pool building. Didn't see if they had a gym or not, but there are four tennis courts (can borrow tennis rackets and balls for free) and a dilapidated basketball half-court. They also have remote control cars for the kids to play with, in a makeshift track that I'm pretty sure was/is a bocce ball court. They have a small arcade with old games like Cruisin' World (reminds me of the good ol days). Better yet, they have the proper old school dome hockey game from the 80's (love it) and a proper gitoni/foosball table (also love it).

Didn't try the Bistro for food but Aux Chantignoles was ok. My piglet chop was overdone, as was the Mrs' salmon feuillete. My salmon rillete with smoked scallop appetizer was probably the best part of the meal. If you get the Sauvagine donut, don't be fooled by the description of cheese. It barely had any. And don't dip it into the green tomato ketchup either - it's more of a tomato soup (which was quite good), no matter what the server says.

Sunday brunch was ok as well, it's a zoo. But the maple butter crepes were great. I've never seen roasted eggs Benedict before but at least the eggs weren't overdone. Tiger prawns on ice and smoked salmon/trout/mackerel were good touches. Some of the salads were nice also. They also had an egg station and some other hot dishes like seafood in Pernod sauce, tortellini, etc. Carving station had ham and bison.

All in all, if you're expecting classic Fairmont quality, you probably won't find it here. I would say that it's likely good for families however. There's also a level 2 charging station on site, right across from the parking lot.