Things to Do in Newmarket

Towering evergreens surround The Polo Organization’s 100-acre collection of playing fields and arenas, which host students during riding and polo lessons. Instructors take on both beginning and experienced students, revealing subtleties of the sport such as objectives, technique, and why water polo is not regular polo on seahorses. Mallets, helmets, and horses are provided during each 60-minute lesson, and students are advised to wear jeans or riding breeches along with flat-soled riding boots. While students meld body and spirit with new equine friends, a professional photographer snaps photos, which pupils can then hang on a wall or embroider to the chest of a collared shirt.

At Puck’s Farm, visitors can bond with 180 acres of the natural environment by learning about harvest-time chores and activities or scheduling weddings and events year-round on the open grounds. Guests of the farm can meet its animal residents, including emus, llamas, and a farm cat, which is much friendlier than a farm puma. For an even more interactive experience with fauna, Puck’s offers pony rides and the opportunity to milk cows and churn butter. Wooded trails traverse the expanse and present one of the many places on the farm where guests can delight in the changing of the seasons. Fall, for example, offers a variety of seasonal activities: visitors can get lost in corn mazes, pick ripened pumpkins, ride in horse-drawn wagons, and stroll through trails speckled with changing leaves. Autumn months also see pigs and goats building their nests for the winter ahead. An onsite snack bar serving hot dogs, hamburgers, and french fries enables guests to refuel for full days of farm activities.

Forty-five hitting bays span the length of Markham Golf Dome’s indoor driving range, allowing players to groom golf games year-round. The six-storey dome covers 53,000 square feet, which could easily serve as a modern sports stadium or a blimp's favorite napping spot. Alternatively, the facility also hosts an outdoor driving range with 60 hitting bays, target greens, and chipping greens to help players hone long-range and short-game techniques. Each of Markham Golf Dome’s instructors has accrued more than 10 years of experience in helping players drive, pitch, and scissor-kick balls with the precision and consistency needed to achieve tee-to-green success.

Cresthaven Golf Club awakens the competitive spirit in golfers of all stripes with an 18-hole par 3 layout. With an average distance of 146 yards from tee to green, the abridged course lets players focus on approach shots, putting, and how best to fake a hole in one. Two lengthier holes throughout the round—the 210-yard 14th hole and the 223-yard 18th hole—will force duffers to unsheathe a wood or driver in order to reach the green. To expand its market to golf neophytes, the club rents out bags of clubs for those without a serviceable set or the ability to extract bejewelled drivers that have been wedged into legendary stones.

Gliding beneath the maple trees overhanging the shore, a kayaker propels himself sans paddles toward an upcoming bend in the Holland River, which opens to banks of cattails that stretch to the horizon. Located at the Holland River Marina, the staff of Fishing Boating On The Marsh outfits visitors to explore these scenic routes, renting kayaks and fishing tackle. Designed for fishermen, Hobie kayaks sport pedal-driven propulsion and enhanced stability, leaving the passenger's arms free to fish or practice shadow puppets on the water's reflection.