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| A winery and vineyard on the Langley self-guided farm tour |
With spring flowers in bloom and summer approaching, those crossing the Canadian border towards Vancouver B.C. might want to bypass the usual urban adventures for a rural getaway.
Think visits to wineries and breweries; farm stores; and walks or bike rides along scenic river paths.
They call it Fraser Country, a fertile valley formed by the Lower Fraser River, running 90 miles between Vancouver and Hope B.C.
Build along a floodplain just 30 miles east of Vancouver are berry and dairy farms, dikes for biking or walking and outdoor tasting rooms surrounded by soaring mountains in an area commonly called the Lower Fraser Valley.
Agriculture is the main focus, but visitors will also find golf courses, opportunities for sturgeon and salmon fishing; kyaking and mountain hikes, all within a short drive of the historic town of Fort Langley on south side of the river, and the suburban towns of Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge to the north.
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| Downtown Fort Langley |
Quaint Fort Langley brims with locally-owned cafes, restaurants, antique shops and bakeries. It’s best-known as the home to the Fort Langley National Historic Site, the former Hudson Bay Company's fur trading post declared by the British as the birthplace of British Columbia in 1858.
Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge, at first glance mostly housing developments and strip malls, are hidden corners of tranquility nestled between the Pitt, Alouette and Fraser Rivers in the foothills of the Golden Ears mountains.
Both sides, connected by the Golden Ears Bridge in what's known as the Lower Fraser River Valley, have their advantages. Fort Langley has more lodging. Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge have fewer tourists.
Farm tours
Wherever you base, start your explorations by following the Langely Self-Guided Circle Farm tour, a roadmap to 16 farm stores, U-pick farms, wineries, breweries and more.
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| Milner Valley Cheese |
Among the many worthy stops is Milner Valley Cheese, a producer of farmstead cheeses made with pasteurized goat milk from the family’s herd of long-eared Nubian and Alpine goats. Visitors can pick up cheeses and ice cream in the farm store, then picnic in the garden while the goats are in the pasture, or peak into the milking parlor.
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| U-pick berry farms welcome visitors |
The biggest farm store and U-pick farm in the area is Krause Berry Farms. A tent set up next to a huge blue barn fills year-round with regulars who line up for freshly-made waffles pilled with strawberries or seasonal berries. Visit in the summer for U-pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.
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| Krause Berry Farms' strawberry waffle |
Set in a wooded area overlooking a pond is Locality Brewing, a farm-to-glass brewery that grows its hops and barley in fields next to its rural taproom. Chairs and picnic tables are strewn around a dog-friendly outdoor tasting room where a food truck with bison burgers pulls up in the afternoons.
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| Locality Brewing |
Views of the Golden Ears mountains set the scene for relaxing with a cocktail on a shaded patio at Roots & Wings Distillery, the first craft distillery in Langley Township.
The tasting room is a single-wide trailer resembling a cabin in the hills of Kentucky. Inside are shelves filled with vodka, gin and whiskey bottles decorated with colorful labels picturing the mountains and a vintage tractor the owners once used to plow their fields.
Partners Rebekah Crowley and Rob Rindt do everything on Rob's family farm, from planting, growing and harvesting the potatoes and botanicals used in their spirits, to fermenting and distilling.
Biking the dikes
With about 40 miles of interconnected trails, the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows dike system, seven miles across the Fraser from Fort Langley, offers bikers many choices for rides along flat, mostly hard-packed gravel paths.
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| Bike and walking path along the Pitt River |
Built by Dutch settlers in the 1950s as a method of flood control, the dikes form an interconnected system of walking and bicycling trails along the Pitt, Alouette CQ and Fraser Rivers.
Let's go Biking, a website dedicated to easy rides around metro Vancouver, outlines a variety of rides of varying lengths with access points, directions and sights marked on printable maps.
Doable in a half-day is the Ridge Meadows Circle route, a 20-mile ride along all three rivers, mostly on dikes and and a few roads with dedicated bike lanes.
Starting at the planned community of Osprey Village in Pitt Meadows, cyclists pedal first along the banks of the Fraser, then along a narrow path in the forested Pitt River Greenway. The trail widens as it leaves the woods, and continues past a small airport, a cedar mill, blueberry farms and cranberry bogs along the Fraser and Pitt Rivers.
Most scenic is at leg of the trail along the south side of the Alouette, the most peaceful of the three rivers, with views of Golden Ears in the late afternoon light.
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| Cycling the dikes |
Before or after a ride, take time to stop in Osprey Village for coffee and a snack at the Stomping Grounds Cafe & Bistro, or a gelato at Sweet Tooth Creamery. Stop in at the Pitt Meadows Art Gallery, a free community gallery supporting the work of local and regional artists.
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| Osprey Village |
Hiking in Grant Narrows Provincial Park
Twelve miles from Osprey Village is Grant Narrows Provincial Park, a dog-friendly wilderness area and wildlife habitat where the Pitt River meets the 16-mile-long Pitt Lake.
A four-mile walk along the Katzie Marsh Loop starts in the Pitt-Addington Marsh Wildlife Management Area which supports more than 200 bird and 29 mammal species.
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| Along the Katzie Marsh Loop |
The walk incorporates a hike along the Pitt River dike trail, a flat, wide trail of packed gravel, flanked on one side by the Pitt River, and the other by a marsh filled with watershields, rooted plants that float on the surface similar to water lilies, but smaller.
To make the most of the scenery, be sure to take climb the wooden lookout towers to spot ducks, geese, herons and osprey.
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| Lookout tower for spotting wildlife |
On the way to or from the park, plan a stop for breakfast, lunch or picnic supplies at Golden Ears Cheescrafters https://cheesecrafters.ca CQ where two Maple Ridge sisters make cheeses, curds and butter using milk from their dairy next door.
If this trip wets your appetite for more, consider exploring further east to Harrison Hot Springs, B.C.'s resort community on the shore of Harrison Lake.
From there, the Fraser River narrows at the town of Hope, the gateway to B.C.’s interior. Once a fur trade and gold rush town, it is known as the “Chainsaw Carving Capital” with 20 giant wooden sculptures scattered around town.
If you go:
Expect good value: Fewer Canadians are coming to the U.S. due to political concerns, but American visitors are being welcomed as usual.
Travel in Canada is an especially good value right now. Something priced at $1 Canadian costs just 71 cents U.S. based on current exchange rates.
Getting there: If Vancouver isn't on your itinerary, bypass the Blaine/Peach Arch border crossing, and detour from Interstate- 5 to the Lynden / Aldergrove crossing. Fort Langley is 15 miles from the border. Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge are a few miles north of Fort Langley, across the Fraser River via the Golden Ears Bridge.
For general tourism and lodging information: See https://www.thefraservalley.ca
Tourism Langley has info at https://www.tourism-langley.ca
For Maple Ridge and Pitt meadows info, see https://www.travel-british-columbia.com/vancouver-coast-mountains/vancouver-area/maple-ridge-pitt-meadows/ CQ
Farm tours: Download a map for the Langley Self-Guided Farm Tour at https://www.thefraservalley.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Langley-Circle-Farm-Tour-2025-Guide.pdf CQ Seasonal hours vary so check websites before venturing out.
Trail maps: Let's Go Biking has suggested routes along the dike trails, along with maps and trail descriptions. See also http://www.alltrails.com
Park info: The City of Pitt Meadows has information on Grant Narrows Regional Park at https://www.pittmeadows.ca/parks-recreation/parks-fields-facilities/parks-list/pitt-addington-marshgrant-narrows CQ
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