“Wilderness chic” seemed a good way to describe Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia until I found out owners Daniel Abel, Charles Leary and Vaughn Perret have done much better. They describe their rave-winning resort as “haute rustic.”

The three Louisianans (USA) followed their Cajun/Acadian roots to Nova Scotia in the late 90s, turning their hospitality and culinary experience into what they call “an utterly civilized outpost amidst the backwoods.” (The former owners of New Orleans’s Chicory Farm Café, they also operate the Inn at Coyote Mountain in Costa Rica and Spain’s Granada Cooking School).

Not surprisingly, the world is taking note. Forbes Traveler recently named Trout Point one of the 10 best wilderness lodges and resorts in Canada and the United States. The London Sunday Times UK travel magazine called the lodge one of Canada’s 16 best independent hotels. Trout Point is also one of just two Canadian properties in Editions Didier Millet’s EcoChic.

Trout Point, a soaring log-and-stone structure with deep porches and wood-burning fireplaces, sits on the Tusket River beside the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, a protected region of undisturbed glacial landforms and wildlife habitat, pockets of old-growth pine and hemlock, and the headwaters of nine major river systems.

What guests will find is guided fishing, hiking, kayaking and canoeing, lake and river swimming onsite with whale-watching, sea kayaking, beaches, historic towns and golf nearby. The kitchen specializes in Creole cuisine with a local base and a gourmet twist, such as crawfish and carrot jambalaya, and spicy cornmeal-crusted scallops with wild sweet fern butter from The Trout Point Lodge Cookbook: Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia. And there’s a total commitment to eco-stewardship: gray water-waste feeding of the vegetable, herb and flower gardens; and sustainably sourced seafood (harpooned swordfish and longlined haddock).

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