Rural East Zorra-Tavistock

Rural East Zorra-Tavistock covers most of the township: about 23,800 hectares of farmland between Tavistock and the northern edge of Woodstock. Hickson, on Oxford Road 59, is the largest community in the countryside and home to the township office. Cassel, Strathallan, Huntingford, Braemar and Havelock Corners are hamlets among the farms. The Hickson Trail follows an old railway bed for 9 km through woodland from Hickson to Woodstock.

Hickson was founded in 1876 at a whistle-stop on the new Port Dover and Lake Huron Railway, which passed east of Strathallan, and it was named after Sir Joseph Hickson of the Grand Trunk Railway. Braemar was a village of about 75 people by 1869. The Township of East Zorra and the Village of Tavistock joined on January 1, 1975, and East Zorra-Tavistock had 7,841 people in 2021, up 10.2% since 2016.

The 2021 census counted 2,976 homes in East Zorra-Tavistock. Leaving out Tavistock and Innerkip, the countryside, Hickson and the hamlets had about 1,190 homes, about nine in ten of them single detached houses. About four in ten were built in 1960 or earlier and nearly a third between 1961 and 1980. About one in six were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in nine in 2001 or later.

Oxford Road 59 runs north and south through the township, from Woodstock through Hickson and Huntingford to Tavistock. Highway 401 is a short drive south of Woodstock, and the Hickson Trail links Hickson with Woodstock for walking and cycling.

The Hickson Trail runs 9 km on a stone dust and natural surface from Hickson to Woodstock, open all year for walking, cycling, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, with parking at Hickson Park, 99 Lovey's Street. Hickson Park has a ball diamond, a practice diamond, a pavilion and a playground. The W. Leslie Dickson Arboretum on Oxford Road 4 has more than 150 labelled native trees and shrubs.

• Hickson Central Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for most of the countryside, including Hickson, Cassel and Strathallan, on Loveys Street in Hickson.
• Tavistock Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the farms near Tavistock, including 19th Line, in Tavistock.
• Huron Park Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for most of the countryside, on Cromwell Street in Woodstock.
• Woodstock Collegiate Institute — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for the west, including 10th Line and Highway 59, on Riddell Street in Woodstock, with French immersion.
• Roch Carrier French Immersion Public School — Grades 1 to 8 in French immersion. The public French immersion school for the township, on Sloane Street in Woodstock.
• St. Michael's Catholic School and St. Patrick's Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary schools for most of the countryside, on Devonshire Avenue and Parkinson Road in Woodstock.
• Holy Family French Immersion Catholic School — SK to Grade 8 in French immersion. The Catholic French immersion school for all of Oxford, on Oxford Street in Woodstock.
• St. Mary's Catholic High School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for the township, on Juliana Drive in Woodstock.