2992 PE-1 Highway, South Pinette, PEI
2992 PE-1 Highway, South Pinette, PEICheryl Perry Photography/Cheryl Perry Photography
There aren’t many opportunities to own a big chunk of Canada’s smallest province, but the farm at 2992 PE-1 Highway, South Pinette, is one of those chances. Located on the more touristy eastern side of the island on the southern coast the farm is about 35 minutes from Charlottetown, and a short drive to the ferry to Nova Scotia in Montague. There is 175 acres of land separated by the highway and the southern plot gives the owner about 700 feet of beachy waterfront on Gascoigne Cove just off the Northumberland Strait (with an Airbnb-ready one-bedroom cottage sited on the water for visitors). The owners bought the place in the 1970s and the 1916 red-brick Edwardian farmhouse has been maintained impeccably to retain its rural charm. Inside there’s dark red walls and floral wallpaper and honey-coloured wood floors everywhere you look. The three bedrooms on the upper floors are tucked under the dormers and the main floor has greenhouse-like sunroom built off the living room. The large kitchen – done all in wood including butcher block counters – connects to the dining room and a walkout to a rear porch. There are several out-buildings, including a horse barn and a granary that has been converted to a guesthouse with its own kitchen and second-floor bedroom (by contrast the seaside cottage has more of a kitchenette in one large open space). About 100 acres of the land has been contracted out to a neighbour who practices organic farming.
“This is the nicest farm home I think I’ve been in,” said listing agent Nick MacDonald with Re/Max Charlottetown Realty who puts a price-tag of $1.2-million on the property. “For PEI, this is in the upper end of the market, but there’s been a tonne of interest. It’s one of those properties where people coming in the driveway have that ‘oh my god’ moment. … It tends to stick with them.”
53315 Range Rd. 134, Rural Yellowhead County, Alta.
53315 Range road 134, Rural Yellowhead County, Alta.Century 21 Twin Realty
Built in 1993, this cozy log home has dark walnut-stained floors and timber-clad main rooms with round log beams and wood-burning fireplaces. “The kitchen part of the house is actually a 100-year-old cabin, and they custom built the rest of the log house around it,” said Laura Miller, of Century 21 Twin Realty, who is listing the property for sale. The open kitchen and dining room transitions from those log walls into a modern kitchen with big island, and fridge and stand-up freezer bookending a run of cabinets and counters in the corner of the room. There are two bedrooms on the upper floor and a covered balcony deck off the primary bedroom.
And for $1.2-million you get 287 acres of land, a barn for cattle, a shop, its own sawmill and a couple cabins and other out-buildings. The couple who owns it is also willing to negotiate over including the cattle operation in the sale, with equipment and animals that could add another $500,000. There’s also an oil lease on the property that generates about $3,200 a year.
It’s midway between Edmonton and the western provincial boundary of the Rockies (Jasper National Park is bout 150 kilometres away) along the TransCanada Highway and the closest big town is Edson about half an hour away. “They’ve been on that land forever, it’s never been up for sale,” said Ms. Miller. People from out of province like the peacefulness, and the low property taxes which were just $466 last year.
South Menezes, Hudson Bay, Sask.
South Menezes, Hudson Bay, Sask.Hudson Bay Realty
The great exodus from Ontario to more affordable parts of the country touch everywhere, including the tiny town of Hudson Bay, Sask., population 1,700, which is A) not on any type of bay, B) about 330 kilometres from province’s biggest city Saskatoon and C) definitely nowhere near the actual Hudson’s Bay (Manitoba is in the way).
Realtor Ruby Moshenko has lived in Hudson Bay all her life, and for most of her career she sold homes to locals and if there was someone from out of province looking to buy they were coming for a local job or returning home to family. Not since the pandemic; she has sold homes to families looking to buy “sight unseen” – some who plan to work remotely (satellite internet will be a must for those folks) or get work locally. “They are young, 40s and 50s, they are selling and coming here and living debt free,” she said.
And who could blame them when $395,000 can get you 35 acres of prairie and an updated open-plan farmhouse with panoramic views from every window. The farmhouse Ms. Moshenko is listing in South Menezes, just off the Saskota Travel Route south of Hudson Bay, has a pond, some stands of pine to shelter the home from the winds, and an updated farmhouse that was first built in 1952.
The kitchen anchors the huge open living room and dining vaulted ceiling clad in blond wood, a black brick fireplace and sliding door walkout to the deck. The black cabinetry wraps around the outside wall under what feels like an acre of butcher-block counter, including an induction range, double fridge-freezer and a massive island. There are two bedrooms on the upper level, one tucked into a loft, and a primary suite on the main level with its own ensuite and closet. The land is leased for cultivation, but there are outbuildings and an ambitious self-starter could build something for themselves. And the property taxes last year were just $2,400.
849 Fairfax Rd., Lansdowne, Ont.
849 Fairfax Rd., Lansdowne, Ont.Greater Ottawa Realty
Farmhouses come in all kinds of materials and depending on the age and the area you could expect log, brick, simple timber frame or if you’re lucky sometimes you find stone.
The stone construction of 1883 farmhouse found at 849 Fairfax Rd. in Lansdowne, Ont., adds some wow factor to the 125-acre hobby/horse farm. Listed for sale at $1.05-million by Laurie Dillon of Greater Ottawa Realty Inc., the farm is about 10 minutes from Ganonoque and an hour from Ottawa, but she expects a buyer from the Greater Toronto Area might be interested in a chunk of the St. Lawrence Seaway. The house sits near the centre of the lot, surrounded by thickets of trees that then open up to the fields that are currently farmed for hay, at the back of the wooded area is the horse-barn and sand track that’s a little more than a decade old. Last year the annual property taxes were just $2,599.
Inside, the “summer kitchen” (an add-on not built of stone) was renovated in 2008 with custom-built Alder cabinets and soapstone counters and is an open-concept space with dining room and an island. The rest of the house has smaller rooms typical to pre-20th-century stone houses. Many of the fixtures are antiques salvaged from other homes in the area; the mantle on the fireplace comes from a teardown in nearby town, some of the light fixtures were sourced in Kemptville, Ont. There are three bedrooms on the second floor, but like many stone houses the ceilings do not exactly soar, but they are clad in painted ship-lap wood – a staple of modern farmhouse decor – and when paired with the lightly stained hardwood floors throughout the look shouts rustic comfort. “You pull in the lane and you feel the stress come out of your neck,” Ms. Dillon said. “If I were not downsizing myself I’d be all over this.”
2321Z Chemin Thomas-Gore, Lachute, Que.
2321Z Chemin Thomas-Gore, Lachute, Que.Multi-Immo Laurentide
Just east of the town of Lachute, Que., (and about an hour away from Montreal to the east) the huge 430-acre lot of 2321Z Chemin Thomas-Gore extends in a dog-leg shape from the main road through the undeveloped rivers and lakes of central Quebec. And as you might hope for a piece of rural Quebec, it’s set up to produce maple syrup. “There’s a beautiful sugar shack, and everything’s automated” said Dany Lavallée of Multi-Immo Laurentides Real Estate, who is listing the home for $1.95-million. There are more than 500 tapped maples on the land, in addition to a barn, a shop and other outbuildings, there are trails, creeks, a hunting camp and fields that grow soybeans and wheat. The farm was established in 1860, and the house sits above a large pond that you can enjoy from the wraparound porch.
“It’s a rural type of home: metal roof, three-layered brick house, now re-done all inside, on that classic rock foundation,” Mr. Lavallée said. The eat-in kitchen has cream-coloured cabinets and stone counters with tumbled stone backsplash. The main rooms are light and bright with cream walls, plaster chandelier medallions and crown moulding throughout. There is a bedroom on the main floor and two more on the second, with an attic storage room that could be converted. Taxes were about $5,800 in 2021.
On the Market: 2992 PE-1 Highway, South Pinette. PEICheryl Perry Photography/Cheryl Perry Photography
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