The Split Rail Country Store is a blast from the past – nestled here just on the edge of Stratford

Amberly Knott, who owns and manages the Split Rail, will offer advice on the many local products she has in her store. She also continues to help sponsor the Stratford and District Saddle Club, of which her daughter Eva is a member.

If readers have not been to a good old fashioned “country store” in a while, a trip to the northern edge of Stratford on Highway 119 might be an enjoyable stop.

The Split Rail Country Store is a family owned and operated business which got its start in 2008. Owner Amberly Knott explained the store’s name itself came from fencing in past decades, when farmers used cedar rails to line pastures and fields as opposed to wire (sometimes barbed wire), as they are now.

When walking through the front door, the sweet aroma of molasses used in the store’s horse feed, along with the smell of new leather from the saddles and bridles, brings one’s memory back to the good old days, when every farm had a team of horses and tack hanging on horse stalls.

Here a short list of what you’ll find:

• Western wear that includes cowboy and cowgirl boots and hats, horse feed, horse creams and lineaments that would keep any horse or pony feeling good.

• Many bags of different mixtures of horse vitamins and minerals, for various sizes and ages of horses, along with western tack, for the serious or occasional rider.

• They also sell wood shavings for animal pens, large or small.

The Split Rail provides locally made goods and products that includes numerous kinds of bird feed and bird feeders at reasonable prices.

They also have a cooler that contains many types of cheddar cheeses made close to home in Millbank, along with locally produced eggs and Wellesley apple products, including apple butter and apple cider.

Another part of the store contains a corner of products sold by Amberly’s 11-year-old daughter Eva. It’s called “Eva’s Corner,” where she sells all kinds of unique gifts for everyone’s cats, dogs and other animals.

She donates a portion of her sales to the local Sebringville rescue centre called “Out of the Ashes,” where they rescue all sizes and types of animals that haven’t had the care and compassion they continue to need.