For years we have wanted a bit of property away from it all and after several years of kicking the idea around and wishful thinking we pulled the trigger.
We've both grown up as "city" people but have always been drawn to the outdoors. I'm not much of a cottager...flat out I don't enjoy a hot, 3-4 hour, parking-lot-esque drive up to Muskoka. And while it's very beautiful...very little else ruins that faster than a drunken fool tearing around on a jetski. Ontario's (Canada) Provincial Parks and wildlife/nature preserves are fantastic...but over the past decade I've been less and less thrilled at how crowded they have become. No longer do you get that feel of being away from it all in nature...but rather it's an overcrowded playground with vending machines and all manner of modern conveniences. Pitching a tent 20' away from someone else doesn't do it for me.
So for a number of years we looked for property. Large lots, small lots...remote, close to towns...with buildings, without...etc... The must haves for us, since we planned on being in Toronto for a number of years to come, was no more than 3 hours away, decently close to stores (groceries, building supplies, etc...), year round accessible, not completely a swamp and remote enough so as "not to see the neighbours". The main hangup on finding a suitable place was which direction? West was pretty full up and we'd be both further out and spending more than we cared to...North was very full up and we'd be further out, more crowded, fighting cottage traffic and spending more than we expected...East was still affordable and had lots of options, but the main detractor was crossing Toronto and getting out past Pickering (which is essentially a 50km parking lot anytime remotely close to rush hour). So we held off for a number of years...but finding a place kept tugging at us.
In early 2016 my brother in-law purchased a 2 story old farmhouse on 2 acres in Prince Edward County, Ontario. We started to visit regularly to help with the renovation and Cath fell in love with the area. Once we broke past the traffic, about a 3rd of the drive, it's usually clear sailing and a really pleasant drive.
So the area was set and we started to narrow down on potential spots. We went to see a couple...I was leaning towards more remote, large and private...Cath was leaning more towards close to town with an established house. We eventually found a piece of property that was 64.5-ish acres, shaped like a sheet of paper..about 400 meters wide and 620-something meters deep. It's "3 roads off of the main road" so really the only people that pass by are the few that live there and the odd cyclist...very private and off the beaten track but easy to get to. The front third is mostly an old field that's gone fallow for a decade or so, the "back 40" is forest and brush with a 4-5 acre clearing in the back. There's a spring well, a dug well and several seasonal streams and ponds.
So it begins.....
