Why own a cottage? This is the question both Chris and I asked ourselves the summer of 2015 after visiting friends in the Tatamagouche area, an hour and half drive outside of the city of Halifax. At this point, we were deep into wedding planning, renovating our house and our lives seemed too busy in the city. We thought we didn’t have time for anything else, but when asked if we were interested in going to a well known Oktoberfest where there was promise of beer, great food and music in the company of good friends, we jumped at the opportunity.
At first, the thought of owning a cottage hadn’t crossed our minds, we were only visiting friends and was it really our thing? However, when we woke up that next morning, after a fun night of being exposed to what the town and cottage life had to offer, we realized how relaxing it all was. We strolled along the beach front of their cottage with the sun shining and sand between our toes and our friends told us more on the area and each of the cottages along the way. The cottages we passed showed signs of pride, some newly painted or renovated and others with the friendly neighbours enjoying the sunshine on their front deck waving. We reached this one cottage a few down from our friends that stood out. It’s red and white paint showed years of neglect and from the coastline, it almost looked as if it could fall at any point.
Our friends told us about the issues the surrounding cottagers had had with the owner. Since they had owned their cottage, they had never seen anyone stay there. One winter, cottages in this area had suffered some major damage after a bad storm and the following summer as the surrounding cottages were being put back together, there was no sign of anyone was at all concerned of the state of this one property. A tree which had broken through the front window and the front door was open inviting animals in.
Neighbouring cottagers grew annoyed at the unsightly cottage and after one season of this, the town stepped in to ensure something was done. This was apparent by the notice hanging on the side of the cottage. The owner, which was believed to be more of an investor than a cottager, was ordered to put a new door and window on the cottage to prevent animals from getting in. It was obvious when looking at the cottage that they had been replaced as they were probably the only reason the cottage was still standing. We all grew curious as we walked up to it. We looked into the newly replaced picture window to see an unmaintained living room and wondered what the story was.
As the sun started to set, we realized it was time to go back to the routine of our daily lives. As we left, we asked ourselves again, is a cottage really us? We often made new years resolutions that we would travel more or do something ambitious like climb to Everest base camp or Mount Blanc and we were always looking for the right time. It was after that experience, we decided maybe it was worth considering. We had always thought a cottage is too large commitment. After discussing it, we realized it didn’t really mean we had to go there every time we wanted to get away, but it would be there, for a last minute get away and as we planned for our family to grow, it would be a place to make memories.
The weeks following, we would day dream of owning our own cottage. We searched for ones that were for sale and quickly realized we couldn’t find exactly what we wanted in the area we wanted. This is when we remembered that neglected cottage, the warm beach and all the fun we had in that little town. We thought, well what if we track down the owner of this property, see if he wants to sell and that way we can make it into something of our own?
It seemed like the perfect oppurtunity and after some back and forth with the seller, we finally landed a cottage property the same summer we visited our friends. Although the cottage is in no condition for us to use it, we thought at this point we could be up and running in no time. We could camp there or put a trailer there or maybe start construction right away. The possibilities seemed endless. The main point was we had a plan for a cottage, us, our lives are already full, when will we have time, it’s a commitment people now have a cottage.
– Amy