Aylesford is a farming community in the county of Kings

Kings County, Nova Scotia

Kings County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.Kings County is located in central Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy with its northeastern part also forming the western shore of the Minas Basin....

 in the Annapolis Valley

Annapolis Valley

The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy.-Geography:...

 of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is nestled between the North and South Mountains and located roughly 15 minutes from CFB Greenwood and 10 minutes from Berwick

Berwick, Nova Scotia

Berwick is a Canadian town in Kings County, Nova Scotia. The town is located in the eastern part of the Annapolis Valley on the Cornwallis River. The town site stretches south from the river and Exit 15 of Highway 101 to Highway 1...

. As of 2006 the population was 829.

Aylesford is located on the Evangeline Trail

Evangeline Trail

The Evangeline Trail is a scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.It is located in the western part of the province, bringing visitors to the Minas Basin, the Annapolis Valley and the Gulf of Maine...

 (Trunk 1) tourist route, named after the famous Acadian

Acadian

The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...

 story about Evangeline

Evangeline

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...

. It is a service centre for the surrounding agricultural district. An important crop is cranberries

Cranberry

Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

 cultivated on the extensive peat bogs. Peat moss harvesting operations are also active.

Aylesford's largest tourist attraction, the Oaklawn Farm Zoo

Oaklawn Farm Zoo

The Oaklawn Farm Zoo is a zoo located in Aylesford, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was opened in 1984, and is family-owned and operated by Ron and Gail Rogerson. The zoo boasts the largest display of Big Cats and Primates in Eastern Canada. At the zoo, there are no male lions...

, was home to Rutledge, the heaviest living lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

 in captivity, as certified by Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

 in 1997. Rutledge died in February 2009, three months short of his 18th birthday. The zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 also has a variety of other animals including tiger

Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

s, Dromedary Camels, and a variety of monkeys.