3 days ago
Century-old restored farmhouse offers a taste of country living
234089 Concession 2, West Grey, Ont.
Asking price: $2,495,000
Annual property taxes: $6,037 (2025)
Lot size: 49 acres
Listing agent: Mark Dulmage, Re/Max Right Move
For prospective buyers of a 115-year-old restored farmhouse in the sparsely populated rural community of West Grey, Ont., the current owner has a warning: Don't believe visitors when they say they won't spend the night.
'When we first moved here, we had friends who would say, 'Why do you live in the middle of nowhere?,'' said Lynne Knowlton, a designer who moved out of the Toronto area for country living 25 years ago. 'But then they would come visit and then not leave. I'd have to go to them: 'You said you're coming for a few hours, but it's been three days!''
Over time, she came to see this as one of those 'champagne' problems. A little more than a dozen years ago, she built a tree house in a stand of woods near her home to serve as extra accommodation. Ms. Knowlton's tree house – kind of like a shrunk-down farmhouse on a raised platform made out of timber left over from a tornado-damaged barn – became the kind of eye-catching 'glamping' short-stay tourism draw that appealed to a new cadre of travellers and explorers tired of hotels and resorts.
'People want to escape and just do nothing; I'd offer them the WiFi code and they'd ask me not to,' Ms. Knowlton said. 'People were always asking, 'Can we extend our stay?'' So she extended her offerings to include a cabin and, at one time, a renovated Airstream trailer. She built a brand on social media (close to 70,000 followers on Instagram now) and began to sell not just overnight stays in the country but a whole lifestyle.
Several years ago, some of her tree house guests loved the area so much they bought a nearby farmhouse on almost 50-acres with plans to build their own country retreat. Eventually though, they decided to move on, so Ms. Knowlton's family decided to finish the home in their own style. The project took two years to complete, and while the family initially planned for her son to move in (her daughter already lives nearby in a refinished stone schoolhouse), he has become too busy with his own business in the next county over to want to move back.
Instead, what they have is a turnkey house complete with handmade furnishings from Bali, all done in the style Ms. Knowlton has built her brand on.
The farmhouse has been redubbed Casa Lane by Ms. Knowlton and sits on a rise on the rolling landscape. As you take the gravel through a small stand of trees the house reveals itself. If you find yourself thinking 'those bricks don't look 115 years old,' you're right: the original orange brick was so expensive to repoint and restore that it was more economical to replace all the bricks and add in a new batch for the rear addition on the original square farmhouse.
A broad set of stairs climbs up to a deep, covered front porch that stretches across the front of the house, with a second-floor balcony above.
The front door opens onto a foyer between the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right. This view captures the style of the house that will be replicated throughout: White walls over natural wood flooring (wide-plank oak) and more natural wood finishes and furnishings.
'Our homes used to be busier with a lot of colour, but 10 years ago we moved to Paris for a couple of years, and I was so inspired by European design,' said Ms. Knowlton, who found peace in simple and clean lines and a neutral background. 'Having less in your home can make it feel less chaotic. I find that we all have enough chaos in our minds. It just feels good, and it's approachable.'
The kitchen eschews upper cabinets above the L-shaped run of creamy white lowers, the backsplash made of tall slabs of quartz that climb up the walls. The sink is positioned at the road-facing window (so you can see if anyone's coming up the lane) and behind that the opposite wall is filled with floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinets (painted white) that surround the double-door fridge.
Centring the room is a banquet/harvest table made of teak used as an island, and there's a lot of teak elsewhere in the house in the furniture that Ms. Knowlton imports from craftspeople in Indonesia and promotes on her social media channels. 'It's hardwood, it's impervious to bugs, it looks stunning, it's warm, and I find it really hard finding unique pieces in Canada that are affordable,' she said. Her online fans love it too: last fall Casa Lane acted as a backdrop to an event where a container of imported bespoke teak pieces was put on sale, along with some of the handmade rattan outdoor furnishings found on the porches and decks here.
Around the back of the kitchen is the entrance to the addition (as well as a main-floor powder room connected to the living room), which features a series of rooms you pass through on the way to the primary bedroom. Starting with a laundry room and mud room, the addition transitions to an ensuite bathroom and closet/dressing room (that can be closed off with pocket doors), and finally to a large bedroom under an arched ceiling with a large sliding glass door looking onto a private deck and the acreage beyond.
Upstairs there are three more bedrooms and one shared bath that features a soaker tub and separate shower, too.
While Ms. Knowlton is renovating and refreshing her getaway spaces she is taking a break from hosting tourists this season after years of every day of summer being booked up (the backlist of future hopefuls is already more than 1,700 groups long). The demand for country living remains strong, which is partly what inspired her to restore and clean out the wood barn near the front yard of Casa Lane.
'We redid the horse stalls and started to fix all the flooring; old barns are really beautiful, they are way too pretty for hay,' she said. Since using it as a showroom for the teak furniture event she envisions secondary uses for the barn: harvest parties, weddings, maybe a yoga studio. 'I'm sad it's empty again. It looks so cool; it would be nice to bring life into it.'
She's also just down the road with her tree house and cabins, and a pool built into the foundation of an old barn. Who knows, maybe the next owner will want to add barn bookings to this hub of country escapes.
