Trout Point Lodge

Trout Point stands deep in the forested interior of southwest Nova Scotia, on the Tusket River at the edge of the Tobeatic wilderness. The lodge itself was built by hand from local spruce in the Adirondack great-camp manner — heavy log construction, wide verandas, stone fireplaces — and holds a small number of rooms and suites plus a few separate cottages.

It sits inside a designated starlight reserve, one of very few in the world, and the astronomy programme is a genuine draw: the sky here is about as dark as it gets in eastern North America. Days are for canoeing the river, walking the forest trails, foraging and cooking classes, and soaking in the outdoor hot tub and wood-fired sauna by the water.

The kitchen is unexpectedly ambitious for somewhere this remote, working through Acadian and Creole influences with Nova Scotian seafood. Halifax is about two and a half hours away by road.