![]() We didn’t expect to find rock-bottom prices-these days, anything near water comes attached to a hefty price tag. We drew the limit at 300 kilometres from the city because, if you’re too stressed from the interminable drive to relax, the entire point is lost. These are places that lie just beyond the well-known, well-trod regions, where the lakes are pristine and deals can be found. ![]() That’s why we at Toronto Life chose to devote this month’s cover story to the new cottage country. And, as Covid-19 continues to overstay its welcome, we’re all in constant need of a hammock nap, a yoga session by the water, or a sauna and a cold plunge to slough off the stress and reset. Yet, for Torontonians, the yearning for the cottage experience persists. Even if that number comes down in the coming months, the prices will still be exorbitant. In May, the median price for a waterfront property in Muskoka was $1.7 million. Of course, the manic market we saw last summer has calmed somewhat lately, thanks to inflation and rising interest rates, but as one real estate agent put it to us this month, “Things went from total insanity to just very hot.” Which means that the most popular regions, like Muskoka, the Kawarthas and Georgian Bay, remain wildly out of reach and will most certainly stay that way. In fact, the idea of the cottage is so vaunted in the public imagination that we say the cottage-not a cottage-even when it’s not ours. Years later, my wife and I got married in a lakeside ceremony, and today, we rent out a cottage every August so that our kids can enjoy the same experiences I did: predawn fishing, roasted marshmallows, twilight swims, stargazing on the dock.Ĭottages, whether owned, Airbnb’d or politely mooched, are as Canadian as lining up for stuff. I worked as a server at a fish-and-chips restaurant on Georgian Bay, and after I got fired (a story for another time), I painted cottages near Parry Sound. And so I did: I entered the workforce as a camp counsellor on a lake in the Laurentians and later slogged it out as a dishwasher (“dish pig,” in local parlance) on Stoney Lake. To me, cottages were pure magic, and I would have done just about anything to spend a summer at one. It was at a friend’s cottage that I drank my first beer-an unholy lemon-lime malted mixture called Boomerang-and then buried the evidence before my parents could find out. I learned to make sap boats, loon calls, s’mores. I rowed, water-skied, kayaked, refined my J-stroke. I was lucky enough to spend many of my adolescent summers lakeside. While I wasn’t part of that horde, I understood the impulse entirely. They wanted space, serenity and nature, and they were willing to pay whatever to make it happen. The culprits, we now know, were the droves of stressed-out Torontonians roaming the region, pre-approvals in hand, eyes bulging. **If you are not satisfied with your subscription, you may contact us in writing to cancel via the chat on the Boomerang website, email or through your Boomerang Account Details within your first 60 days of subscription sign-up and we will refund the subscription fee paid up to the date of cancellation notice within 5-10 business days.A lot of real-estate zaniness has transpired these past two-plus years, but nowhere was witness to more transactional madness than cottage country. Offer may be amended or withdrawn at any time without notice. Offer cannot be applied retroactively to a prior purchase and may not be combined or used in conjunction with any other offer. The cancellation will take effect the day after the last day of the Trial Period. If you do not wish to pay for a subscription following the Trial Period, you must cancel your subscription before 11:59PM EST on the last day of your Trial Period through your Boomerang Account Details page. By providing your payment details, you acknowledge and agree that you will be charged the regular rate for a Boomerang subscription ($30/month+tax or $330/year+tax) following the end of the Trial Period. You will be required to provide your payment details in order to access the Offer. Offer is only available to new Boomerang users who have never previously signed up for Boomerang and may only be used once. *When you sign up for a free trial you will get full access to Boomerang which includes unlimited classes at no cost for a period of 14 days (“Trial Period”) from the creation of a new Boomerang account (“Offer”).
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