Parkwood National Historic Site

Amazingly gorgeous right in Oshawa! Take the tour - so interesting and informative. Our guide and the staff were excellent 👌🏻. Grand home and fantastic grounds. Highly recommended. Will be back as they have so many tours + tea in the stunning gardens in the summer.

This is a beautiful estate to visit for historical importance. Visiting this place takes you back in time. Well maintained but we visited in November. The guided tour of 90 minutes costs $12 for seniors. There are many guided tours within the estate for which you have to check the website. We got to see the living, dining, family room and Library, The Recreation area included Swimming, blowing ally and pool table. The tour was worth it. Will return in Summer. A list of movies that were filmed here is included here.

This place is a haven in the middle of Oshawa. It was built by Sam Mclaughlin who eventually founded General Motor s. It is a designated Historical site. I still haven't visited the actual house but I will.
The gardens are out of this world. They reminded me of European gardens. I visited in September and October and I have to return next summer. There is a a tea house and a gift store.
Do visit here, I know I will return.

Two intriguing elements were the house and the gardens. Even in early Fall, the latter were beautiful with a wide range of flower types and colours with the contrasting green of the lawns. The house was an impressive collection of different rooms many of which contained the original furniture. Wonderfully high ceilings with wood panelled walls and contrasting plaster mouldings. A detailed presentation by the knowledgeable docent gave a warm insight into the personalities of the family. Well worth visiting. Combined house and garden visit would need about 2.5 hours.

Came to the Teahouse for a summer evening dinner. Wasn't too busy but apparently we came on the last day for dinners for the summer so could be why. We made reservations and we're seated front and centre of the fountain. Stunning view! 😍 the hostess and wait staff were very attentive and friendly! The food and drinks were great and we loved getting to walk around the estate afterwards to enjoy the scenery. Definitely will be coming back next summer to try out the afternoon tea as well!

This was a really great experience and I highly recommend it!

I did the Auto Baron Tour with friends. This is a bit of an overview tour vs the other more specialized tours. Our tour guide, Zoe, was quite informative and did a wonderful job painting a picture of what life was like, while deftly handling some of our esoteric questions!

The home is stunning and well maintained, and the grounds spectacular as well. There is so much to cover, I now understand why there are so many different tours! I'll just have to go back to check out other parts of the home!

ETA: I have also done the Christmas tour and Greenhouse tour, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Lovely to learn more about this fascinating family although it's a real treat having Zoe for a tour guide as her passion and admiration really shine through.

I did the Christmas tour with my mom and sister, and the Greenhouse tour with my husband and 4 year old son. The home and grounds are so extensive, and the history spans so many decades, that multiple tours really allow you to dive in and discover many enjoyable nuances.

It’s very beautiful and not too crowded. Very nice vibes.

The staff are all very friendly and amazing! They help you as much as they can.
I went to buy tea and they were very helpful and answered all my questions.

I needed to charge my phone and they even helped me out with that!

I also did the tour which was very informative.

I really recommend this place to people who want a relaxing day at a beautiful place with a lot of beautiful flowers!

A beautiful garden to walk through, so many varieties of flowers, plants and trees. Very picturesque. No wonder I saw a few couples there taking wedding and engagement photos. Check website to make sure they are not closed for filming before going.

Our experience at Parkwood Estate was really good. We had a great family outing. The gardens and the fountains are very well maintained and clean. Lots of open space for families to hang out together. Parking is free too. Although we couldn't manage to do the guided tour of the mansion but we are planning to go again soon.

Definitely the most underrated and overlooked spot in Oshawa. We loved our tour of the mansion - it was a fascinating exploration of a major Canadian figure I’d never even heard of. Then we explored the grounds - which are free and open to everyone and are absolutely gorgeous. They’re also going to look very familiar to fans of Billy Madison, Nightmare Alley, Ready of Not, or any number of other films that have featured the grounds’ fountain.

Was able to enter the gardens around 7pm. Have to enter from simcoe st. The grounds itself is free to enter with free parking. It's a nice spot to walk around and enjoy the scenery but there is lots of bugs and mosquitos.

Absolute gorgeous place for afternoon tea. The estate is well kept and the florals are beautiful. With the afternoon tea set, you get a plethora amount of food to keep you satisfied. My favourite sandwich was the apple curry chicken croissant! The scones are great and so are the sweets. The service is impeccable!!! My friends and I needed to go to the washroom and they called a golf cart to take us there since the walk was going to be long. Not only that, the gentleman that took us waited for us and dropped us back at the tea house. The property is great for pictures and to just enjoy. I would love to come back again 💖

Great estate to visit in the heart of Oshawa.
Garden and estate is free to roam around .

They have a tea house restaurant that is available from breakfast til dinner.

Great menu , price is decent .
Good resto to visit and have a chill fine dine outdoor experience.

Came with friends. We all had a very good time at the estate. Unfortunately we weren't expecting that the place is so popular so we did not pre-booked the quided tour and the restaurant. Will have to come back again for that. However, a walk in the garden in still worthwhile.

Went on a garden tour today. It was fabulous. Our tour guide Louise was great and the group we were
with were fun. The gardens are just stunning. I love this place and it’s our 10th time going. I highly recommend any of their tours the auto baron, servants quarters, basement… they’re all informative and exciting. The gift shop is charming and all of the staff LOVE their work and the home. We ended our day with lunch at the tea garden which was scrumptious and well worth the prices. A little bit of Oshawa’s history to explore.

Its a great location to shoot pre weddings. we shot couple of E-shoots here this year. They overbook sometimes as there were 4 other photographers shooting at same time. But its a great location none the less. You can make sure with them its not crowded before confirming the booking.

very classic garden setup,very clean and quiet,comfortable to walk around and is free.
Book the restaurant to enjoy the view,its worth it.

This is a hidden gem! I live close by and was never aware of this place! We took a guided tour of the palace and it was incredible! The tour guides/crew are all awesome friendly and make you feel at home, they made this experience even more remembrable. Thank you Vivian, you are doing great. ❤ The estate itself is great, has a tea restaurant near the fountain and water body which is an amazing experience. I'm looking forward to booking the next tour of the servant quarters and first floor in the fall. It's a wonderful place, even if you're not a fan of history, a must visit!

My husband and I took the Behind the scenes tour for when Parkwood is the site for movies and TV shows this afternoon. Susan was our tour guide and she was very knowledgeable. She answered all our questions professionally. We highly recommend this tour.

The Parkwood Estate is a spectacular place to tour around. We did the basement tour and it was super interesting with a very knowledgeable guide. Afterwards we had a bite to eat in their garden tea house and the food was delicious and the view out to the garden and fountains were beautiful plus the service was absolutely top notch. I highly recommended a visit. However if you plan on eating at the tea house I suggest you book ahead online as they don't take walk ins which was rather disappointing but we did manage to book in before the day was over, so not a big deal.