Westfield Heritage Village — Attraction in Hamilton

Before you come here, don't just drop in, check out their website first. Don't rely on their booklet either! I picked up a booklet about Westfield at Valens and the event listed (the ice cream carnival) turned out to be a fairy day. Also, during the week, no volunteers or employees are present here - even to collect admission or to man the gift shop. There are also no demonstrations then. If you want to see this place when everything is up and running, come on Sundays or Civic Monday in the summer. Check out their website for special event days. Some events require a reservation with an extra fee. I got in at the end of the day without a reservation on Civic Monday.

Duration: To do all of the activities on a day when everything is up and running, it would take about 1.5 hrs -2 to cover everything. On a week day, you will cover everything in 45 minutes.

Favourite spot: The blacksmith shop was the highlight of our day! The men there did an excellent job explaining their work. Steve also does some intricate work as well, which is sold in their gift shop.

Prices: Free with your HCA (Hamilton Conservation Authority) membership, except on certain days. There was a $10 fee with the membership to come on fairy day.

Payment: During the week, there are machines outside to swipe your membership card or to pay with your credit card from Monday-Saturday. Someone was there on Civic Monday to take cash or credit.

Gift shop: It is jammed packed with so many items: old-fashioned toys, books, maple syrup, suckers, linens, Christmas decor, jewelry, pocket watches, stuffies, Anne of Green Gables items, puzzles, incredibly unique pens, toy vehicles, trinkets, etc. See my pics for many specifics.

Food: Sometimes they bring a food truck, like on Civic Monday, but, most of the time, you should bring your own food because they have nothing available. They have picnic tables.

Nearby local activities: You can swim at Valens with a HCA pass or if you don't have one, then you can pay a daily admission fee. Also, you can go berry picking at Marcy's Berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc.) when in season. Marcy's sells fresh corn and honey too. See my review for Marcy's for more info. African Lion Safari is nearby as well, but that is a whole day activity at least.

Parking: Free, and there is lots of it. There is a little bit of shade.

Pets: Pets are allowed on a leash.

Washrooms: Some are typical washrooms with running water and flushing toilets, but others are portable toilets with hand sanitizer. The typical washrooms may not be available at all times.

Volunteers: They are fabulous people. They are very helpful! Some of them are quite informed. They dress in costume.

Wheelchair accessible: Quite a bit of this place is wheelchair accessible. See my pics...

The amount of money you spend on tickets, parking, and the, "Reservation fee" (it's getting more expensive every year) Is not worth the rude comments from certain members of the staff. An older woman in the "potions teaching class" raised her voice at me for taking a Halloween foam sticker from her basket to put on my phone case. "Those are for the kids!" She yelled. I thought she was joking but she was actually angry... I don't know if she realized this or not, but there weren't as many kids in there as there were adults... There were two kids in that class out of 13 people. So, 11 were adults. You had AT LEAST over 200 stickers in that basket? Anyways,I thoroughly apologize for taking one of your stickers🙄. She was literally an old witch lol...An older gentlemen.. Excuse me.. A "professor" was teaching a, "How to use your wand/broom class". An older woman burst in angrily, interrupting the "class" ,and shouted "hurry up and wrap it up ,your past your time limit... you're taking far too long "..she took all of the fun out of the conversation the class was having with the professor. Until that woman burst in, we were all having a good time! My sons and I popped by this past Sunday Oct 26 for the "Witches and wizards of Westfield"..I dressed up as Mary Sanderson, and my kids were wizards. They wore long beards and cloaks. Halloween is not just for kids..If that's what Westfield is going for ,you're going to lose out on a lot of money.. Most people who attended (at least on this day ) did not have kids. There were a lot of elderly couples, Middle aged adults, and even a few groups of teenagers. We understand you have time limits, but instead of bursting in and shouting at your employees in front of your guests, you could at least pull people aside to speak with them directly ,instead of clearly embarrassing them in front of the entire group... That's no way to act/treat your employees... Anyways, The pumpkin shooting was fun.. The free popcorn was a bonus and the tractor ride was wonderful as well.. We took a lot of great pictures! It was such a beautiful day! It's too bad the haunted house at the train station was not handicapped accessible for my son's walker.. He will have to bring his canes next time. Other than that, we would go back..Perhaps around Christmas?.. Maybe the same grouchy people won't be working there.. Better yet !! ..Maybe dress one (or two) of those employees up as Grinch's.. thank you too everyone who keeps this place up...

I brought my kids here during march break for the maple syrup festival and im so glad we picked this place.

The place is not hard to find and parking was great. What i liked the most in the place is that it's not just about Maple syrup. The place is quit big. Tge theme of the place is the canadian heritage. The olden days. Visiting that place gave me knowledge about canada and the life before and is very intresting. Very old houses and cottage are all over the place with actors or volunteers inside to show you the life before. It will make you appreciate the past and where we are now.

The Maple festival was not so big in the area but it's a good reason to visit the place. The sugar shack was like at the end of the place. And there they teach you how the syrup is made and how the trees are tapped. They also let you try the syrup which me and the kids like.

Then at the end of our visit, we got the cafeteria or food court. Not sure what it's called and had our selves some pancakes, sausage, ham and fresh maple syrup. Did was great specially for its price and will definitely come back during summer to visit and enjoy the place.

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