The natural beauty captured on the CBC hit tv show, Heartland is unbelievably breathtaking! The snowy mountains, beautiful log cabins and of course the horses.... it was only natural for us to put it on our bucket list! Conor and I had been trying to decide if we wanted to move to Canada from Australia to buy a ranch. See more about this here. Before we could make this big life-changing decision we decided to venture to Alberta in the middle of their winter to see if we could cope with such a cold climate. It was only natural for us to fit in a self-guided tour of 'Heartland' filming locations to our itinerary.
So here it is. We had been staying in Canmore for eight nights. We were smack bang in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and we were leaving soon to stay in Calgary city for the rest of the holiday. Knowing this we decided to fit in the self-guided tour as we had to venture east to get to Calgary anyway. I had done my research and had learned that Heartland films a few of their scenes in a town called, 'High river.' We decided to take the back roads to High River in hopes of seeing wildlife and to get a feel of the country life that we may have in the future when we buy our ranch! We left Canmore in the early morning with our first destination being, Bragg Creek.
As shown in the video above, we saw our first close encounter with deer as well as an unbelievably beautiful turquoise running river while passing through Bragg Creek! We didn't realize when we passed through this beautiful town that 'Heartland' actually films some of their scenes here. One of the scenes is when Amy notices a lady singing her Grandma Lyndy's song outside of a cafe. We didn't visit this location however, we have researched a little and have learned that this scene was filmed at the, 'Old West shopping mall' in Bragg Creek.
The next filming location is 39.5km south East of Bragg Creek in a town called Millarville. Millarville is home to the, ‘Millarville Racing & Agricultural Society’ which is known as, 'Hudson race track' on Heartland. This racetrack is where they shoot most of the horse racing and rodeo scenes! Amber Marshall, who plays Amy has also had fan meetings in the arena!
Due to it being winter in Canada, we were able to drive straight in and had the whole place to ourselves. How lucky are we!!!?? When we drove through the property I was instantly reminded of the horse stalls that Tim Fleming had used in the early seasons of, 'Heartland' for his horse. Seeing the bleachers (arena seating) I instantly knew this was the arena they used for filming. I remembered that in a handful of episodes seeing Amy Fleming leaning over the railing watching horses races. Many scenes of Tim Flemings ex-girlfriend, Janice are filmed here too! In season 12, Jade and Georgie do a workout at the racetrack by running up and down the bleachers and using the fencing rails as a chin-up bar!
Although the racetrack was closed for winter, I learned that they use the track for an event called, ‘Skijordue.’ A sport that I would like to learn when we move to Alberta! Basically, a horse rider dallies a rope to their saddle horn, and pulls a skier or snowboarder holding the rope through a course! Canadian’s think of everything! The next filming location we set off to was the, ‘Millarville Anglican church’ where Lou and Peter were married in season 3. It’s a beautiful wooden chapel with stunning views, located only a few minutes from the, ‘Millarville racetrack’ on highway 549. The church was completely empty and we managed to snap a few photos and film inside!
Later we arrived in Black Diamond, a stunning small town 16km south of Millarville. As far as we know, no filming locations are shot here but we later found out through an Instagram story that Amber Marshall shared, that the place we stopped for lunch is one of her favourite places to eat! What a coincidence! ‘Westwood’ is a welcoming, cozy and rustic-looking café with very friendly staff happy to accommodate my gluten and dairy intolerances! The kids enjoyed playing with musical instruments and toys on the rug, while we enjoyed a hot coffee to warm ourselves up! We can’t believe how beautiful Alberta is and can’t wait until this becomes our normal weekend activity.
As shown in the video above, we saw our first close encounter with deer as well as an unbelievably beautiful turquoise running river while passing through Bragg Creek! We didn't realize when we passed through this beautiful town that 'Heartland' actually films some of their scenes here. One of the scenes is when Amy notices a lady singing her Grandma Lyndy's song outside of a cafe. We didn't visit this location however, we have researched a little and have learned that this scene was filmed at the, 'Old West shopping mall' in Bragg Creek.
The next filming location is 39.5km south East of Bragg Creek in a town called Millarville. Millarville is home to the, ‘Millarville Racing & Agricultural Society’ which is known as, 'Hudson race track' on Heartland. This racetrack is where they shoot most of the horse racing and rodeo scenes! Amber Marshall, who plays Amy has also had fan meetings in the arena!
Due to it being winter in Canada, we were able to drive straight in and had the whole place to ourselves. How lucky are we!!!?? When we drove through the property I was instantly reminded of the horse stalls that Tim Fleming had used in the early seasons of, 'Heartland' for his horse. Seeing the bleachers (arena seating) I instantly knew this was the arena they used for filming. I remembered that in a handful of episodes seeing Amy Fleming leaning over the railing watching horses races. Many scenes of Tim Flemings ex-girlfriend, Janice are filmed here too! In season 12, Jade and Georgie do a workout at the racetrack by running up and down the bleachers and using the fencing rails as a chin-up bar!
Although the racetrack was closed for winter, I learned that they use the track for an event called, ‘Skijordue.’ A sport that I would like to learn when we move to Alberta! Basically, a horse rider dallies a rope to their saddle horn, and pulls a skier or snowboarder holding the rope through a course! Canadian’s think of everything! The next filming location we set off to was the, ‘Millarville Anglican church’ where Lou and Peter were married in season 3. It’s a beautiful wooden chapel with stunning views, located only a few minutes from the, ‘Millarville racetrack’ on highway 549. The church was completely empty and we managed to snap a few photos and film inside!
Later we arrived in Black Diamond, a stunning small town 16km south of Millarville. As far as we know, no filming locations are shot here but we later found out through an Instagram story that Amber Marshall shared, that the place we stopped for lunch is one of her favourite places to eat! What a coincidence! ‘Westwood’ is a welcoming, cozy and rustic-looking café with very friendly staff happy to accommodate my gluten and dairy intolerances! The kids enjoyed playing with musical instruments and toys on the rug, while we enjoyed a hot coffee to warm ourselves up! We can’t believe how beautiful Alberta is and can’t wait until this becomes our normal weekend activity.
Just a short 37km drive southeast of Black Diamond is the town of High River. This was the last filming location we were visiting, but it was the one we were most looking forward to! High River is where Heartland films their town, ‘Hudson.’ It is also where ‘Maggie’s diner’ is located as well as a lot of other filming locations! We had done our research before arriving and had learned that if you visit, ‘Museum of the Highwood’ in High River and donate a small amount of money, they allow you to take a look at some of the props from, ‘Heartland!’ Inside we saw utensils and the uniform used in, ‘Maggies Diner,’ Tim Fleming’s bulldogging saddle, bridles, Amy and Ty’s clothing, signed poster and much more which can be seen in our, ‘Heartland filming locations’ video HERE!
The lovely people at the museum gave us a map of High River with, ‘Heartland’ filming locations marked on it! First on our minds was, ‘Maggies Diner’ on 3rd avenue. To say we were excited was an understatement! It looked just like the show, with the rustic log cabin look, it was perfect! I was half expecting the white horse statue to be standing out the front but sadly it wasn’t. We did later see it locked inside the tack room part of the diner. Peering through the windows we could see the whole diner! The chairs, tables, countertop, kitchen area, and down to the back part of the diner where the horse tack and feed are sold. At the back of the diner we came across a large green wall with the words, ‘Maggie’s diner, tack and feed store!’ We saw this as an opportunity for a photo!
Many other locations are found in High River such as when Amy and Tim brought cattle to the police station on 5th avenue. The park where both Amy and Georgie graduated and many others can also be seen in the above-mentioned video!
Before we knew it, our self-guided, ‘Heartland’ filming location tour was over! The tour exceeded our expectations. The mountains views, the wildlife we saw, the snow, rivers, and good food… it’s safe to say we had a great day! We now have a short 45-minute drive to Calgary and couldn’t wait to explore Calgary tower the following day! If you would like to see how our Alberta holiday went, please head to our YouTube channel to check out our, ‘Moving to Canada’ playlist HERE! We can’t wait to move to Canada!
I hope you all enjoyed this blog post!
Let me know what posts you would like to see from me in the future <3
Have you seen my latest Heartland videos below?
I hope you all enjoyed this blog post!
Let me know what posts you would like to see from me in the future <3
Have you seen my latest Heartland videos below?