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The Northumberland Shore pours its adventures: nine activities fill this guide, and four of them are breweries - from Tatamagouche Brewing Co., the family-owned organic microbrewery in a converted butcher shop, to Half Cocked Brewing in a converted barn on a former chicken farm, the region's top brewery rating at 4.9. Two distilleries, Nova Scotia's biggest ski hill, a lavender farm above the strait and a pedal-buggy rental shop complete the list - a four-season trail from the Wentworth Valley to River John. Our Cape George Scenic Drive guide covers the coast between stops; the comparison table links all nine.

Four taprooms line the shore. Tatamagouche Brewing Co., a family-owned organic microbrewery established 2014 in a converted butcher shop on Main Street, pours small-batch beer and tasting flights with weekend brewery tours - 4.5 across 139 reviews. In Antigonish, Candid Brewing Company runs a women-owned taproom on College Street - 4.8, among the best brewery ratings on the shore - pouring balanced craft beer with illustrated characters on every can, and Oak Manor by Burnside Brewing fills a former Main Street menswear shop with its Dartmouth brewery's core lineup plus on-site small batches (4.8 across 63). Half Cocked Brewing in North Grant pours in a converted barn - 4.9 across 56 reviews.

Coldstream Clear Distillery in Antigonish pours tastings of vodka, rum, liqueurs and canned cocktails in a family operation tracing nine generations of distilling back to 1749 Halifax - 4.9 across 21 reviews, among the highest-rated distilleries in Nova Scotia, with a food truck on site. Up the shore at Arisaig, Steinhart Distillery carries 300 years of German family tradition into award-winning small-batch vodka and gin, with tours, tastings, on-site cottages and the two-day GINstitute by the Sea experience - 4.4 across 44 reviews. Both are Good Cheer Trail stops.

Ski Wentworth is Nova Scotia's biggest and best-loved ski hill, set in the Wentworth Valley near the New Brunswick border - 4.6 across 741 reviews. Two chairlifts, night skiing, lessons and rentals serve skiers and snowboarders all winter on terrain that hosted the 2011 Canada Winter Games alpine and freestyle events, and 90-plus years of ski history run beneath it. Summer flips the mountain into a lift-served bike park with hiking trails and fall colours, so the anchor works in every season.

Seafoam Lavender Gardens & Farm Store is a family-owned experiential farm in River John - fragrant lavender fields in bloom, pick-your-own bouquets in season, handmade lavender products and artisan goods in the farm store, and sweeping views of the Northumberland Strait with PEI visible in the distance. It rates 4.8 across 100 reviews and opens from Mother's Day weekend through the second weekend of October, noon to 5, then by appointment in the off-season - the shore's calm counterpart to a beach day on the warm-water coast.

Remember Adventures in Tatamagouche rents surrey-style four-wheeled pedal buggies that seat up to five, plus bicycles and tandem kayaks, for self-guided runs along the Trans Canada Trail on the Butter Trail - with a cafe, book shop and gift shop attached, near Creamery Square and the farmers market. It rates 4.3 across 12 reviews and turns the flat rail trail into a family ride: Tatamagouche Brewing and the Train Station Inn sit a short roll away on the same Main Street.

The route writes itself along Highway 104 and the shore roads: Tatamagouche's brewery and pedal buggies, the Wentworth Valley's ski hill, the River John lavender fields, and the Antigonish cluster of Candid, Oak Manor, Coldstream Clear and Half Cocked in North Grant. Give it two unhurried days, more in ski season. Our Northumberland Shore guide covers the warm-water beaches and towns between stops, the Cape George Scenic Drive guide loops out from Antigonish to the lighthouse and fossil beach, and the region hub frames the whole shore.