Rural Woolwich

Rural Woolwich covers most of the township: about 30,900 hectares of farmland, woodlots and river valleys on both sides of the Grand River and along the Conestogo. Horse-drawn buggies are a common sight on the gravel roads, and Mennonite farms with large barns and stone springhouses line the concessions. At West Montrose, the covered bridge of 1881, known locally as the Kissing Bridge, still carries traffic over the Grand River, and it is the only surviving historic covered bridge in Ontario. The hamlets of Floradale, Winterbourne, Bloomingdale and West Montrose each have their own small parks and old homes. On Saturday mornings the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market fills with the smell of fresh apple fritters, and in autumn the woodlots turn gold and red along the river.

In 1807 William Wallace sold most of his land on the Grand River to the German Company, whose Mennonite settlers from Pennsylvania took up the land west of the river. The township was named Woolwich, probably after the town in Kent, England, and incorporated in 1816. Settlers from England and Scotland took up the land east of the Grand from 1821. The West Montrose covered bridge was built in 1881.

The 2021 census counted about 9,360 homes in Woolwich. Leaving out Elmira, St. Jacobs, Breslau, Conestogo, Maryhill and Heidelberg, the countryside and its hamlets had about 2,075 homes. About four in five are single detached houses. About a third were built in 1960 or earlier, and about a quarter between 1961 and 1980. About one in five were built between 1981 and 2000, and about one in five in 2001 or later.

Regional roads cross the countryside to Elmira, St. Jacobs, Waterloo and Guelph, and Highway 85 runs along its western edge from Waterloo to St. Jacobs. Highway 7 runs through the south-east corner past Breslau, and the Region of Waterloo International Airport is in the south of the township. Highway 401 is about 8 km south of the township's southern edge. Grand River Transit's 21 Elmira route runs along Regional Road 85, and the 19 Hazel route serves the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market. The Kissing Bridge Trailway crosses the township from Elmira through West Montrose toward Guelph, and the Avon Trail ends in Conestogo.

The township has parks in the hamlets: Floradale Park, Bloomingdale Park, and Letson Park and Gole Park in West Montrose. The Grand River, a Canadian Heritage River since 1994, runs through the middle of the countryside, and the Kissing Bridge Trailway is open for walking, cycling and cross-country skiing. The Bloomingdale branch of the Region of Waterloo Library is at 860A Sawmill Road. The St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, with its outlet shops and the Waterloo Central Railway's market stop, is close by for the whole countryside.

• Conestogo Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the centre of the countryside, including West Montrose and Winterbourne.
• Floradale Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the north-west, around Floradale.
• Breslau Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the south-east, including Bloomingdale, with French immersion from Grade 2.
• St. Jacobs Public School — JK to Grade 8. The public school for the countryside around St. Jacobs and Heidelberg.
• Elmira District Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for most of the countryside.
• Grand River Collegiate Institute — Grades 9 to 12. The public secondary school for the south-east, including Bloomingdale, in east Kitchener.
• St. Teresa of Avila Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. Woolwich's Catholic elementary school, in Elmira.
• St. Boniface Catholic School — JK to Grade 8. The Catholic elementary school in Breslau, for the south-east.
• St. David Catholic Secondary School — Grades 9 to 12. The Catholic secondary school for both of these schools, in Waterloo.