Are you a cottager?

[dognutz]

My mom and dad bought a cottage when we were kids and they always spent time there. I went to help but never really enjoyed the cottage life, bugs etc. Some people love it, water sports et al.

I don't live in Toronto so maybe escaping the city is a main reason for most. I don't see the appeal of camping either. Any you?

 

[hockeyguy19]

I can't stomach the idea of camping, going up north, or staying at a cottage. My wife's family has a cottage on the water and I try to avoid going whenever possible.

I get that it's a relaxing escape for some but just not my thing.

 

[bazokajoe]

I used to love going up north for camping or visiting relatives at their cottage when I was young. Now with traffic and crowds up north I have no desire anymore.
Maybe, just maybe, once every 10 years would be ok, but don't see the allure of making it a trip multiple times a year. It would get boring fast.

 

[xmontrealer]

I find cottage life extremely boring. Not much for boating or water sports. Don't like the drive in traffic there and back on weekends, with nothing to do when I get there except computer and TV, which I have right at home.

For sure not as a single guy, but even when I was married I had no interest in it...

 

[Insidious Von]

Cottages have to be maintained, I recently went back to wheelbarrow work to repave the gravel road out to the main road. We built a brick pizza oven in the early 00's that's paid for itself. Along with pizza you can roast whole chickens, steaks.... So far this year I haven't gone up, I usually wait till August. Then I'm usually the one to close it for the winter.

Dutchie says Victoria is ugly, he must hang out with Leo De Caprio.

 

[jeff2]

We had a family cottage that we bought in 1977 and sold about 10 years ago. East Muskoka, almost Haliburton. Very buggy. Small lake but big enough to water ski and their was fair of privacy(not jammed up next to other cottages). After having rented for years on enormous lakes, my older brother said to my dad, why don't we get off the pond and get on a lake. Was mostly bored as a child, but enjoyed the peace,fresh air, and wild life up there later in life.

 

[Ref]

I was raised in cottage country and not only visited many cottages, but worked on many of the larger ones during my late teen years.

Cottage life can be hit and miss.

I would never want to own a cottage as it ends up being a work camp after a while. I would much rather rent a cottage at different locations so I could experience the cottage setting as well as enjoy the local towns and people.

My family still lives up in cottage country (which is where I am now) and the one thing I really hate is the bugs. That is a deal breaker.

 

[Kurt]

I was raised in cottage country and not only visited many cottages, but worked on many of the larger ones during my late teen years.

Cottage life can be hit and miss.

I would never want to own a cottage as it ends up being a work camp after a while. I would much rather rent a cottage at different locations so I could experience the cottage setting as well as enjoy the local towns and people.

My family still lives up in cottage country (which is where I am now) and the one thing I really hate is the bugs. That is a deal breaker.

Me too - I bought a cottage and spent every weekend working up there and then had to come home and do work at the house. Began to resent everything. Not I visit peoples cottages and enjoy the time but don't miss owning one.

 

[LaceyxJade]

I am a big advocate of fucking off into the wilderness! My endgame in life is to be in the woods, preferably on a lake

 

[Insidious Von]

I'm lucky the second generation gets to open the cottage, that horror is no longer on me. No matter how tightly you seal up the place in November, vermin always finds a way in.

And I no longer have CHEX Girl to look forward too.

 

[Not getting younger]

My father was an alqonquin area guide in his youth (late 50s) . It’s how he met my mother when her parent hired him to take them into the bush for a couple weeks. As a kid growing up we had a cottage, and would camp a lot. Me, I love the bush. One of the best times in my life was taking a bush plane due north out of Wawa, landing on a lake, and not seeing another human being for a week.

Many years later I moved out of the city myself, now live in “cottage country”. Where rush hour is two horses passing my house at 5pm. Love that I can see stars at night, and can hear apin drop at all hours, smell lilacs and much more vs the smells in the city, vs traffic, sirens etc and so on.

A lot of my friends, family, former colleagues are still trapped in the rat race. Nor do they understand why they say “I need to escape for a weekend/week”. Until I point out that’s an odd word to use “escape”..

cottage vs RV/Trailer, vs camping vs weekend rental at al. I’ve done it all

hands down the freedom to explore. See different places. Aside from the work having a second home brings. Your locked in that one spot.

 

[Erosboy]

I am a cottager. I love having a consistent place to go where I feel comfortable and at home where I can destress and unwind. I'm lucky though because I rent it out for the crazy months of the year so the place pays for itself and I make enough from it to fly to someplace warm in the winter. I'm usually at the cottage May and June and September and October because deep down I kind of hate people and I like to be alone.

 

[Jenesis]

My mom and dad bought a cottage when we were kids and they always spent time there. I went to help but never really enjoyed the cottage life, bugs etc. Some people love it, water sports et al.

I don't live in Toronto so maybe escaping the city is a main reason for most. I don't see the appeal of camping either. Any you?

I am. I have a trailer not a cottage but same thing. 3 seasons.

I started out on weekends and love it so much I live here in the spring/summer/fall. I only leave because I tour. 2/3 trailer - 1/3 touring is my schedule now.

I’m lucky that it would take me longer to drive from Durham to DT then from Durham to my trailer due to traffic. So a day trip home is no big deal. And I am on a lake. My boat is docked right by my trailer. It is easy and convenient.

I love it so much I just upgraded and bought a new trailer. Up at 5am - fishing at 6am. Camp fires, overall fresh air, the friendly people (researching what park is key for the people) - it’s just different living. I feel like a different person since getting the trailer in 2018 and starting this lifestyle. I don’t know why I waited so long.

Nothing really bugs me anymore. I have no real stress in life anymore. I mean I have things that are stressful but I don’t feel stressed out at all.

There is not much work around here other then gardening which I love and cutting the grass which my neighbour does for me a lot. Winterizing is easy and with the new trailer, there is like no work at all. Just sit and enjoy. Few more years and I will get another one down south and travel back and forth. Renting the US one 3 seasons of the year and staying only for winter. Maybe. I don’t know about living in the US yet but that is another topic for another day

 

[Not getting younger]

You fish Jenesis. Lol you might have just made my “sonar”…. I’m awake every day between 3-4am. Never miss a sunrise and love watching the mist burn off a lake.

“I’m lucky that it would take me longer to drive from Durham to DT then from Durham to my trailer due to traffic.”

When I worked on Bay st. Most days my commute was 3hrs from Whitby to Union and back. Fridays and cottage traffic it could take an hour Pickering to Whitby. Durham isn’t much of a drive but does look far on a map. Before pulling the trigger up here, went to see a house in Courtice at 6:30pm. It took longer to get there from Whitby then it does into the fresh air. Knew then I was done with the city.

Trailers are great too.
growing up we had a seasonal for sometime. The social aspects are a benefit not found with cottages. RVs, pull behinds are great too. Saw a lot of Canada coast to coast that way.

 

[Jenesis]

You fish Jenesis. Lol you might have just made my “sonar”…. I’m awake every day between 3-4am. Never miss a sunrise and love watching the mist burn off a lake.



When I worked on Bay st. Most days my commute was 3hrs from Whitby to Union and back. Fridays and cottage traffic it could take an hour Pickering to Whitby. Durham isn’t much of a drive but does look far on a map. Before pulling the trigger up here, went to see a house in Courtice at 6:30pm. It took longer to get there from Whitby then it does into the fresh air. Knew then I was done with the city.

Trailers are great too.
growing up we had a seasonal for sometime. The social aspects are a benefit not found with cottages. RVs, pull behinds are great too. Saw a lot of Canada coast to coast that way.

I have an angler thread around here somewhere. LOL. Yes. Very active in fishing. But just here in my lake. My trailer is parked at a privately owned park. Smaller size park, retirement and fishing community. Very chill. I think I’m the youngest person here. LOL

Only takes me an hour and 15 mins or so to get from Whitby to my trailer. No highways, all back roads

 

[Kurt]

I am a cottager. I love having a consistent place to go where I feel comfortable and at home where I can destress and unwind. I'm lucky though because I rent it out for the crazy months of the year so the place pays for itself and I make enough from it to fly to someplace warm in the winter. I'm usually at the cottage May and June and September and October because deep down I kind of hate people and I like to be alone.

OMG the older I get the more I am starting to hate people as well.

 

[dirtyharry555]

Not a fan of horse flies, ticks, mosquitos and other irritants.

 

[Candymancan]

Not a fan of horse flies, ticks, mosquitos and other irritants.

It's been a good investment over the years.

 

[curvluvr]

I'm a city slicker. When I was young, my family would rent a cottage for a week.
Fishing was the highlight for me. Just getting out there on a lake and passing the time.
I still try to rent a cottage with my family, although ideally, I'd like to have one that is tight enough to keep bugs out, has AC, and WIFI.
Not exactly roughing it, but I like the change of scenery once in a while.

I would never own a cottage though. That's just another house that I'd need to maintain and clean.

 

[Boss Nass]

My mind was going in a whole different direction. Cottaging