In Search of Three Pines: A Fascinating Tour of Louise Penny’s Inspirations

A Tour of Louise Penny’s Fictional Three Pines

I recently did a self-organized tour of sites that inspired the author Louise Penny’s imaginary town of Three Pines. I’m a big fan of Louise Penny’s murder mystery series (I’ve read all 18 books) set in the fictional town of Three Pines in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. So I spent 5 days looking for the places that inspired Penny to create her settings in the books. In addition, I got in some biking, brewery tours, and French cuisine and wine.

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Who is Louise Penny and Where is Three Pines?

Louise Penny is a Canadian author who has created an 18-volume murder mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec as the main character. Many of the books are set in the fictional village of Three Pines. The town is full of charming businesses, quirky characters, and a beautiful natural backdrop. Three large pine trees dominate the common of the town, hence the name.

Penny took her inspiration for many of the locations in her books from sites in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Ninety-five designated townships in southeastern Quebec make up the Eastern Townships. They are about an hour’s drive east of Montreal. Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom borders them to the south.

Loyalists who sided with the British in the American Revolution built houses in the Eastern Townships as a retreat from conflicts. Many tribes of the Abenaki people were the original inhabitants and still live on the land. Abenaki names for lakes, mountains, and rivers are reminders of their home including places such as Magog, Memphremagog, Massawippi, Missisquoi, Megantic, Tomifobia, Coaticook and Yamaska.

Outdoor adventures abound in the rolling hills, forests, lakes, and rivers in the Eastern Townships. The area is a biker’s paradise with many locales for road, gravel, and mountain biking. Therefore, I was happy to explore some of the bike trails in the area. For more suggested bike tour loops through fictional Three Pines, refer to the Eastern Townships tourism site.

Related post -> Best Bike Trails in Vermont

How I Designed My Three Pines Tour

My pilgrimage really starts at a gas station on the Vermont side of the Canadian border. There, several Québécois fill up with the lower-priced U.S. gas while sharing news of the day in French. Once the conversation has ended and the gas is pumped, they jump back in their cars and retreat to Quebec with the thrill of a cheap tank of gas chasing them home.

I passed the border and notice that the rolling hills are an extension of the green fields of Vermont. The signs are in French, but there’s a familiarity to the landscape. Soon I wander my way into the charming town of Sutton.

Sutton has a sweet tiny library with all of Louise Penney‘s books in English. On the bulletin board was a colorful map of the places Louise used for her inspirations. I used this map as well as one given to me at Brome Lake Books to chart out the places I wanted to visit.

While I created my own Three Pines tour, there is a highly recommended official tour of the area that Penny recommends. I read some articles about the tour which gave me more ideas of places to explore. I wanted to spend more than one day touring the sights that inspired Penny to create the fictional Three Pines and other book settings, therefore I planned my own 5-day tour.

Three Pines Tour of the Eastern Townships

Literary tourism is a wonderful way to focus on the sites of an area. I found that by looking for the things that had inspired Louise Penny to create the fictional town of Three Pines I had an amazing tour of the Eastern Townships. It was a perfect place for me to bike and eat my way through while enjoying the natural beauty and precious small towns. Enjoy the places I visited!

Bistro Le Relais – (Olivier’s Bistro)

Penny suggests that her inspiration for Olivier’s Bistro comes from any bistro in Knowlton. However, I think the Bistro Le Relais best matches the descriptions of Olivier’s Bistro in the books. Its old-world interior with scattered antiques gives the homey feeling of the Three Pines bistro.

The bistro is located at the Auberge Knowlton which is an excellent rendition of Gabri’s B&B in the Three Pines books. The historic building with a wide veranda is located in the center of the village. It is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the Eastern Townships. A list of the former hotel names since 1849 is painted on the outside wall of the establishment.

I can totally see Chief Inspector Gamache having a meal there and staying in the auberge before he moved to Three Pines permanently. Just imagine him enjoying a licorice pipe as he discusses a case with Jean-Guy Beauvoir.

La Rumuer Affamee (Sarah’s boulangerie)

Part of my tour through the inspirations of Three Pines was to taste the food. Sarah‘s boulangerie is inspired by La Rumuer Affamee in Sutton. Here you’ll find delectable wheels of goat cheese next to the maple-infused ham. There are old-time wooden counters with employees eager to get the tasty morals to you as soon as possible. There are the local ciders and wines chilling in the back. Importantly, a wide counter of pastries and just baked bread occupies the front of the store. Finally, don’t forget to get a sugar pie. Don’t miss this iconic maple pie of Quebec.

Without a doubt, La Rumuer Affamee was the most authentic of the inspirations on my trip. I can see Sarah in her baker’s cap explaining the bread of the day to a frequent customer. Then she suggests which of the mounds of creamy cheese to pair it with. I’m sure in Three Pines they would actually use the antique iron cash register on display next to the door.

J.B. LeBaron General Store (Monsieur Beliveau’s general store)

A visit to the uber quaint town of North Hatley is a delightful part of any Three Pines tour. One of Penny’s visions for Monsieur Beliveau’s general store in Three Pines comes from the epicier in North Hatley. J.B. LeBaron is one of those iconic general stores that sells just about everything. It’s like the store is an entire shopping plaza reduced to one building. On the neat shelves are everything from dish detergent to vegetables, from cookware to books, from candy to meats, and much more.

It’s the kind of country store where the inhabitants of Three Pines could find everything they need to host their next dinner party.

Brome Lake Books (Myrna’s Bookstore)

Even if it weren’t an excellent model for Myrna’s bookstore in Three Pines, Brome Lake Books would be an exceptional place to visit in the Eastern Townships. The light-filled, airy bookstore is a bustling community gathering place. People looking for a book and people looking for a hint of Louise Penny mingled in the stacks.

Part of the bookstore was a shrine to Louise Penny and her novels. There was a Louise Penny reading area with comfy chairs and her books close at hand. A world wall map with flag pins showed the home areas of visitors. I tried to pin a flag on Massachusetts but the entire northeast was completely covered with pins. Three Pines mugs, T-shirts, and “What would Gamache do?” bracelets were for sale. Even the iconic licorice pipes could be purchased.

The owners of the independent bookstore not only knew their books, but they also served as informal tour guides of the area. Friendly and helpful, they told me about the bike trails in the area. The feeling of warmth evident in the Three Pines novels pervaded Brome Lake Books.

Church of St. Adian (St. Thomas’s church)

There are several churches that inspired Louise Penny to create St. Thomas’s Church in Three Pines, the church where Chief Inspector Gamache’s daughter Annie married his second-in-command partner, Jean-Guy Beauvoir in How the Light Gets In.  St. George’s Church in Georgeville on Lake Memphremagog was also a model for the fictional St. Thomas’s Church.

The Church of St. Adian in Sutton Junction is cloaked in simplicity and rural loveliness. It was built in 1909 and named after an Irish monk named Adian. The church is currently being remodeled so I couldn’t go inside.

Beyond Three Pines: A Tour of Other Louise Penny Settings

As readers of Gamache’s exploits know, Penny set some of the books outside of Three Pines. I mean, how many murders can a small town have?

I visited Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac and Hovey Manor, two places that inspired the locations of books in her series. Both sites are beautiful in their own right even if you were not on a tour to find fictional Three Pines.

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac (Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups monastery)

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac is a Benedictine community of about 30 monks living, worshiping, and working together tucked in the green hills near Lake Memphrémagog. It was the inspiration for the Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups monastery in Penny’s Beautiful Mystery book.

From the outside the monastery looks like a huge Gothic castle with a pointed bell tower. The bell rings periodically to bring the monks to their next event, be it at mass or lunch, or work.

The arched hallway leading from the reception to the chapel has a cheerful rainbow floor beneath a yellow brick hall. Colorful arches with meticulously inlaid wood frame the multi-color hallway.

The monks lead a simple and silent life, full of contemplation and prayer. There is a working farm and orchard where products for sale are produced. Cheese, ciders, and fruit preserves are sold onsite in the boutique. I sampled the blue cheese and fontina. Both were so good I snapped some up for my bike trip provisions.

Twice daily tours of the monastery are offered in French primarily, with occasional English tours. The tours access parts of the property not open to the general public to show the life of the monks and the production of the food. The tours are $14 for an adult. There are also audio headset tours available in French and English to interpret the public parts of the abbey. Similarly, signs in the rainbow hall tell the story of the monastery and its monks.

A mass was going on when I was there, and the beautiful Gregorian chants of the monks echoed through the colorful halls.  Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac was definitely a wonderful welcoming stop on my Three Pine tour.

Hovey Manor (Manoir Bellechasse)

Hovey Manor is a homey luxury resort located on the shores of Lake Massawippi, just outside of the picturesque town of North Hatley. It is Penny’s inspiration for Manoir Bellechasse in her Gamache thriller A Rule Against Murder.

It was originally built as a summer home for a southern U.S. businessman. Modeled after George Washington’s Mount Vernon home, the property became a hotel in the 1950s. It is an award-winning inn that has welcomed Bill and Hillary Clinton as guests. Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton co-authored a political thriller, State of Terror, which is not part of the Gamache series but is equally entertaining.

I strolled the magnificent gardens of the Hovey Manor and had a delicious lunch of a lobster roll on the open-air terrace of the Tap Room in the Carriage House.

For a complete Louise Penny Manoir Bellechasse experience, a stay at Hovey Manor is the ultimate in literary tourism experiences. The resort offers suites and a cottage as well as standard inn rooms. With tennis courts, yoga classes, kayaks, and paddleboards to borrow, the lakefront is available for activities or to catch up on your Louise Penny reading.

Saint-Armand

Saint-Armand is a small town on the Canada-US border that was used as a setting for the Amazon Prime television series starring Alfred Molina based on the novels by Louise Penny. While some of the Three Pines series was filmed in Quebec, Saint-Armand was the location for the outdoor scenes.

I visited Saint-Armand at the end of my Three Pines tour to see how it matched up to the TV series. I had also viewed all the episodes so wanted to see another fictional Three Pines.

Sure enough, the TV location of Olivier’s Bistro was still there near the center of Saint-Armand. It used to be the town’s general store but now it is an abandoned storefront advertised for sale, however, it looked just like the bistro in the show. Myrna’s Bookstore was set up in the building next door for the TV series.

The town common with the 3 scrawny pine trees planted there could be seen on my tour of the town. I imagine the pine trees of Three Pines to be much more magnificent.

Saint-Armand has the small-town charm I saw throughout the Eastern Townships. Certainly, any one of the towns I visited for Penny’s inspirations could have been the setting for the Amazon TV series. Unfortunately, we will never see it as the series was not renewed by Amazon after one season.

The “Official” Three Pines Tour

The Food and Drink of a Three Pines Tour

Indeed, a delight of Louise Penney‘s series is the food and drink. She takes you through French cuisine like a Julia Child protégé. In the books, you can sit with the characters at the dinner table to sample tasty French fare. You can savor a café au lait by the fire at Olivia‘s Bistro. You tear open a perfectly crisp baguette and smear it with the right Brie through Penny’s prose.  I am frankly surprised that more of Penny’s characters aren’t a little chubby from all the richness they ingest. 

Partially, the purpose of my personal Three Pines Tour was to sample the unique culinary delights of the Eastern Townships. A picnic of carefully selected treats from La Rumuer Affamee (Sarah’s boulangerie) on the common in Knowlton was a favorite lunch on the tour.

Sampling the food and drink of the Eastern Townships

I also visited the wineries and microbreweries of the Eastern Townships. I biked to Sugar Hill from Knowlton and relished a tasting of wines at this lovely boutique winery. A scenic wine route through the Eastern Townships takes you to the 22 splendid wineries in the area.

Related Post-> Recommended Bike Routes of the Eastern Townships of Quebec

If hops and malts are more your thing, enjoy the microbrewery circuit. I visited 3 of the 29 microbreweries in the largest brewing area of Quebec. The craft beers I tasted, along with fantastic pub grub, make me want to search out more of these friendly establishments.

Additionally, not to be outdone by wine and beer, there is a cheesemaker’s circuit. I’m salivating over the excellent blue cheese I bought at the Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. Called Bleu Bénédictin, this cheese’s sharpness cut the tongue and followed with a creamy, rich out-of-this-world taste.

Finally, the favorite candy of Chief Inspector Gamache, the licorice pipe can be found for sale at Brome Lake Books in Knowlton. Stock up, I found them rather addicting. Now I need to add licorice pipes to my list of yummy contraband that includes St-Viateur bagels, cans of maple syrup, and coffee crisp bars to take home.

Logistics of the Three Pines Tour

It’s crucial to have a car to be able to see all the Louise Penny inspirations as public transportation is minimal in the Eastern Townships. You can rent a car in Montreal or Quebec City. I recommend and use Discover Cars for all my car rentals. They set you up with reputable rental companies and offer the best rates I’ve found. I have had many positive experiences renting through Discover Cars.

The good news is that even without a car, it’s still possible to visit some of the Louise Penny inspiration sites on a tour. This day trip from Montreal will take you to some of the sites and other Eastern Township adorable villages.

Lodging for the Three Pines tour

While I camped during my 5 days in the Eastern Townships, each of the picturesque towns has comfortable and classic accommodations. In North Hatley, Hovey Manor on Lake Massawippi is the inspiration for Manoir Bellechasse in Penny’s book A Rule Against Murder. If you want to stay in the charming town of North Hatley, the Auberge La Chocolatiere is a chocolate-themed inn set on the lake offering a breakfast of chocolate crepes or waffles in the morning.

Knowlton is a village of Lac-Brome where Penny found examples for her books. The Alberge Knowlton is a spitting image of what I imagine Olivier and Grabri’s B&B and bistro would look like. If you want beautiful spacious grounds with a pool, Domaine Jolivent B&B is a 10-minute drive to Knowlton. It is an excellent place to stay to explore the whole Lac-Brome area.

Sutton is another great place to stay. It has the inimitable La Rumuer Affamee boulangerie for a delightful repast. Plus, two microbreweries in town and several stops on the wine route nearby make it an excellent base for explorations. Le Pleasant Hôtel & Café is a Victorian mansion converted to a hotel in a perfect location in Sutton.

Wrap Up of My Tour of Three Pines

Literary tourism combined with outdoor adventure turned out to be an excellent way to explore the Eastern Townships. Through my tour in search of Three Pines, I got to see some of the most beautiful parts of this area of Quebec. Plus, the wine, cheese, and microbrews, in addition to the farm-based cuisine, made it feel like a visit to France.

If you have read any of Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series, I hope you find these sites of her inspirations as charming as I did. If you haven’t read them, get reading! You won’t be disappointed.

There is so much to explore outdoors in the Eastern Townships. My next visit will include more biking, hiking, and paddling now that I’ve satisfied my literary tourism cravings. May you be surprised by joy in your search for Three Pines.

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Amazing Outdoor Adventures of the Eastern Townships of Quebec

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