How many Canadians have "cottages"?

[Laceoflight]

Here's the same method applied to Ontario :

For the whole province, the pattern is similar to Québec, i.e. the secondary residences are mainly located on the canadian shield. There are 3 regions that stand out : the Muskokas, the Highlands and Manitoulin island. The Rainy River / Kenora area also seems quite popular, though not at the same scale.



Zoom on the Highlands area (or whatever its name)


Zoom on the Muskoka area


Zoom on Manitoulin area

Originally Posted by Laceoflight

Secondary residences in the province of Québec (data from census 2016 and the ISQ)

The municipalities with more than 40% of secondary residences (vacation homes, cottages, "chalets") are mapped below. The trend is clear : the cottages are located all along the laurentidian piedmont, from west of Gatineau to east of Québec, with high concentrations in the Outaouais and Laurentides administrative regions. The Eastern Townships were once highly popular summer destinations, but they now tend towards year-round residency.

The colours of the dots refer to the proportion of secondary homes on the municipal territory (40 to 50% for light green dots, for example).



Zoom on the area north of Gatineau / Ottawa (Outaouais, Pontiac, Hautes-Laurentides)


Zoom on the area north of Montréal (Laurentides / Lanaudière)


Zoom on the Eastern Townships

[Pauleen]

Now the purchase of cottages has become a popular thing, but personally I much prefer to live in an apartment. Simply, the cottage needs constant care, and a lot of money is spent on this care. I, much prefer to fly away a couple of times a year and rent a cottage for a while. For example, recently I wanted to relax in a warm country and chose St Ives Cottages as a place to stay. Of course, I love to relax on the beach, drinks and relax, but soon I get tired of it and I want to plunge back into the work routine.

[whatnext]

I can't imagine anything worse than being locked into vacationing at the same place year after year. YMMV

[flar]

I rent a different cottage up north every fall. No way I would buy one.

[Curmudgeon]

^^^ I just couldn't agree more with the three comments above. I like going to different places for each getaway to the lake.

[TorontoDrew]

Same. I was at a cottage on Georgian Bay last weekend near Tobermory. Beautiful place amazing views but the commute and upkeep would suck. I'd rather just live up there full time and spend a few weekends in a hotel in the city. I wonder if any cottage country residents have city cottages?

[1ajs]

got a cotage on its own lake. full off grid power running waer might setup yr round water at some point
the green is from northern lights above the clouds

[manny_santos]

If I could afford it, I’d buy a cabin in the wilderness in BC or Washington.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

If I could afford it, I’d buy a cabin in the wilderness in BC or Washington.

That's right there are no cottages in BC.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I can't imagine anything worse than being locked into vacationing at the same place year after year. YMMV

In Montréal, people go to their chalet pretty much every weekend. I don't consider that as ''vacationing''. They leave Friday afternoon, the big rush hour on the A-15 is between 1pm and 3pm, most of them comeback Sunday morning.

[megadude]

With all the work from home that's going on a year now, did anyone here or someone you know basically move to the cottage/cabin or summer there and work remotely? Emphasis on remotely!

I spent a total of about five weeks up north from May to Sept. First half of summer the internet hotspot on my work phone worked enough for me to do basic work functions on my laptop but for some reason, it just completely stopped in the second half. I actually had to ride the bike to the beach parking lot and set up on a picnic bench (where there was just enough of a clearing with no trees to get signal) to do like two hours of work at a time. Or drive somewhere and sit in the car in 30 degrees or 5 degrees.

Was hard working on a bench when people were coming and going with their beach toys. It was especially hard when some scantily clad chicks were passing by. I also witnessed a car back into another car and drive off without hesitation. I quickly took a pic of his plate but upon inspecting the other bumper, somehow there wasn't so much as a scratch. Also saw the trashy element doing their best to perpetuate some stereotypes. Not an ideal place to hold a zoom meeting.

I checked Rogers and Bell websites and put in the postal code and they both said cable or DSL internet is not possible at your address. Only eight houses on the street had the capability. I even called them and they said the same thing. They said your only option is data on your phone. Well my work uses Telus so I was shit out of luck since I don't think they have towers upthere. I suppose I could have upgraded my personal phone package but I resisted.

One of the houses that could support internet was next door, but he's a cottager too so he doesn't have internet up there. But I was wondering if the technicians can just simply piggy back off his cable utility and run a wire to our cottage. I will have to think about that in the future.

I always wondered how legitimate it was when reading that some people were thinking of moving to the country, but couldn't in certain locations of town because their home business or remote work required top of the line internet. Now I know what they mean.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by megadude

With all the work from home that's going on a year now, did anyone here or someone you know basically move to the cottage/cabin or summer there and work remotely? Emphasis on remotely!

I spent a total of about five weeks up north from May to Sept. First half of summer the internet hotspot on my work phone worked enough for me to do basic work functions on my laptop but for some reason, it just completely stopped in the second half. I actually had to ride the bike to the beach parking lot and set up on a picnic bench (where there was just enough of a clearing with no trees to get signal) to do like two hours of work at a time. Or drive somewhere and sit in the car in 30 degrees or 5 degrees.

Was hard working on a bench when people were coming and going with their beach toys. It was especially hard when some scantily clad chicks were passing by. I also witnessed a car back into another car and drive off without hesitation. I quickly took a pic of his plate but upon inspecting the other bumper, somehow there wasn't so much as a scratch. Also saw the trashy element doing their best to perpetuate some stereotypes. Not an ideal place to hold a zoom meeting.

I checked Rogers and Bell websites and put in the postal code and they both said cable or DSL internet is not possible at your address. Only eight houses on the street had the capability. I even called them and they said the same thing. They said your only option is data on your phone. Well my work uses Telus so I was shit out of luck since I don't think they have towers upthere. I suppose I could have upgraded my personal phone package but I resisted.

One of the houses that could support internet was next door, but he's a cottager too so he doesn't have internet up there. But I was wondering if the technicians can just simply piggy back off his cable utility and run a wire to our cottage. I will have to think about that in the future.

I always wondered how legitimate it was when reading that some people were thinking of moving to the country, but couldn't in certain locations of town because their home business or remote work required top of the line internet. Now I know what they mean.

Some of my co-workers live in remote areas but within an hour's drive of Timmins. Now that most of us have to work from home a few of them still had the option to drive into the office but most of them have more recently decided to work from home. Some of them have satellite internet (Xplornet I think) which isn't cheap but not terrible considering you can use it anywhere, some live close enough to cell towers that a booster will help and they use one of those sticks in their laptops and a couple have fibre optic connection.

As for Telus, up in Northern Ontario Telus works off of the Bell (and its subsidiaries) cell towers. I used to have a Telus phone but switched to Eastlink a few years ago. I'm not sure where you were but there's a good chance it's the same.

[Acajack]

..........

[megadude]

Ah, Explornet. I've seen that name in email addresses before and wondered what the hell that was, but was too lazy to look it up. I used to see that back in the day when I was underwriting home and cottage applications in my assigned region, which basically included cottage country from Simcoe to Muskoka to Kawarthas to Haliburton.

[urbandreamer]

My idea of a cottage is a farm in the Shenandoah Valley. I've stayed in friends cottages near Sauble Beach - gross although the sunsets over Lake Huron were nice - and Haliburton - better but still too noisy. There's always annoying kids partying or the old retired dude out with his chainsaw chopping wood. I want utter peace and quiet! (Like when I tried camping but realized people bring the city with them - why do you need a week's supply of junk food, luxury goods etc when camping?)

[megadude]

The noise I've noticed as well. I like ambient noise as dead silence is just too eerie for me, but yeah, it seems there's always chainsaw or lawnmower or hammering or whatever going. Lots of maintenance or renos. It doesn't bother me too much but if you want to lay in the hammock and chill the eff out, then you're going to have a problem.

Five years ago a guy in his 20s bought the house diagonally across the street to live as he got a job nearby (prices affordable up there of course). Well every weekend he was inviting his bros to party and spend the night. The sound really carries at night and I think I've heard enough stories that go "Hey, remember that time when you tried to hook me up with a 13 year old lol?" or something like that.

Thankfully, that's the only one like that in the neighbourhood. It's not like Wasaga or Sauble with that certain contingent. More family oriented and very few rentals.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

My idea of a cottage is a farm in the Shenandoah Valley. I've stayed in friends cottages near Sauble Beach - gross although the sunsets over Lake Huron were nice - and Haliburton - better but still too noisy. There's always annoying kids partying or the old retired dude out with his chainsaw chopping wood. I want utter peace and quiet! (Like when I tried camping but realized people bring the city with them - why do you need a week's supply of junk food, luxury goods etc when camping?)

I know and that's why I wouldn't want to be limited to always vacationing at the same place. Those kinds of disturbances that you mentioned which happen more than they should can make for a miserable experience.

Our last lake vacation in late September in eastern Manitoba was partially ruined thanks to the daily 6:30 a.m. barking dogs a few lots down. And really, why in the hell do so many people think it's necessary to honk their horn every time they lock the car door? Is it just pure stupidity? And then you've got the people who would be in a hurry if they were on a South Pacific island and drive too fast on the residential roads, usually with the vehicle's windows rolled up and their a/c on so I suppose clueless that they're kicking up dust. We discussed coming home a day early but in the end the final night was a Sunday night so it was the best night as more than half of the people left and it was finally peaceful and you could enjoy the sky and the sound of the water and not hear barking or honking!

Then there's other places which have been so very near perfect that you just don't want to leave, but that's my point, I want choice and flexibility.

[megadude]

Speaking of dogs, the cottage behind us, which is a good distance away with many trees in between, has a dog that barks incessantly sometimes. My wife hates it, but I really don't notice it too much. But it must be super annoying for their neighbours.

As for locking with the key fob with the horn beeping, I think we can start with the manufacturers. My car locks silently with one tap. Two taps it will just make the sound to reaffirm. 99% of the time the silent lock is fine because I can hear the actual lock mechanism engage. Many cars do not have this two tap option.

I lived in a lowrise condo complex for a while and I always shook my head when people were doing this after 10pm. You could, you know, just press the actual lock inside your car door before you close it.

There was also a guy who would remote start his van at 5:30 am in the winter to get the heat going. It automatically shuts off after 15 minutes. Sometimes he'd start it again after time expires. Well with those Dodge Caravans, it beeps when you remote start. My car does not do that. It's the default and is once again a dumb ass flaw from the car maker. Give the god damn option!

I asked the property manager to enforce the quite enjoyment bylaw. She responded saying she can't ask him to stop just like she can't ask people to stop the beeping of their cars when locking the door. Well you could send a friendly reminder at least. I then reminded her that the city of Burlington has a 1 minute idling bylaw. She emailed the guy the next day.

Anyway, I did the research and unless you're an electrical wiz, you have to get the dealership to disable the beeping sound. The guy said no problem, and got it done.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by megadude

As for locking with the key fob with the horn beeping, I think we can start with the manufacturers. My car locks silently with one tap. Two taps it will just make the sound to reaffirm. 99% of the time the silent lock is fine because I can hear the actual lock mechanism engage. Many cars do not have this two tap option.

I lived in a lowrise condo complex for a while and I always shook my head when people were doing this after 10pm. You could, you know, just press the actual lock inside your car door before you close it.

My truck has the option to turn off the beep completely, which I am thankful for. I wonder how many people ever explore all the settings?

But conversely, locking the door with the button isn't a viable option. My truck prevents you from doing that, so that you can't lock the keys inside.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by jonny24

My truck has the option to turn off the beep completely, which I am thankful for. I wonder how many people ever explore all the settings?

But conversely, locking the door with the button isn't a viable option. My truck prevents you from doing that, so that you can't lock the keys inside.

What year is the truck? I was not aware of such a thing. I rent a car 3-4 times a year and so I've driven a lot of newer cars and haven't seen this yet. None are trucks and none fancier than a Camry though. However, some of those cars had the silent lock option so not like I tried locking with the door button on all of them.