Solitude a cottage industry

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This article was published 19/05/2002 (8645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BETULA LAKE — “I used to say I’m going to the lake,” says Barbara Mitchell, holding up two fingers on each hand as if to put quotations marks around “the lake.”

“Now I just say I’m going home.”

The lake, that special place in the hearts and psyches of Manitobans, is where tens of thousands of us have descended this weekend for the first time since last fall.

But many people never left.

The number of Manitobans who make the cottage their year-round residence is on the increase. Out of more than 6,000 cottages in Manitoba provincial parks, about 600 are now people’s primary residences. Manitoba Conservation tracks the trend because there are extra fees involved for permanent residents. And many more people are moving into cottages they own on private lands.

There are about 300 year-round cottage owners in the Whiteshell Provincial Park, including Barbara and Don Mitchell at Betula Lake, about a 90-minute drive east of Winnipeg.

Jack and Janet McRobie are another couple who have moved permanently to the Whiteshell at Eleanor Lake.

McRobie, a Winnipeg police officer for 29 years until his retirement, said he originally planned to move to the West Coast. Then he realized he could have all the coast had to offer and more — for much less cost — by moving to the lake.

“I thought maybe a cabin by the water in British Columbia would be nice. But hell, we’ve achieved what we want, and then some, right here,” said McRobie. He says the winters at the lake are “beautifully silent.

“Another thing is you don’t have to get to know the country all over again, which can take 15 years.”

The Mitchells are coming off their second year of full-time residence at the lake. It was hard at first to sell their Whyte Ridge house and make the break with city life. The Mitchells always took advantage of what the city had to offer. They have been Blue Bomber season-ticket holders for almost three decades, and were always Winnipeg Jet season-ticket owners. They enjoy playing sports at a local winter club and have served on volunteer boards.

“It took me three years to decide to move here. Don finally gave me the ultimatum: either the home or the cottage,” said Barbara Mitchell, a former medical secretary.

“I think the way of life here in Manitoba with the lakes is unique in the world,” said Don Mitchell. “When we visit other parts, people can’t believe they way we live.”

They make the 90-minute drive into Winnipeg fairly often, and don’t find it onerous. “We’ll go out with friends in the city and it turns midnight and we’ll say it’s time to go home, and people will just kind of look at us and say, ‘You’re going to drive all the way back at this hour?’ But it’s become an easy thing to do,” said Don, former area manager for Pittsburgh Glass and Paint in Manitoba.

Going the other way, friends will often visit them and stay the weekend.

They’ve been snowed in a few times. But there was no panic. They simply waited it out. One time they couldn’t get out for four days. It was before Christmas, and Barbara baked the entire time for every member of the family. “My kids said they wished I’d get snowed in every year,” she said.

The full-time cottagers enjoy the isolation. “It’s no different than all those farm houses you passed on the highway driving out here,” said Jack McRobie. “You get to know your spouse again,” he added.

“I think you really have to be a homebody. I really enjoy baking and knitting and reading,” said Barbara Mitchell, her feet up on an ottoman and next to a wad of white yarn the size of a watermelon.

Those cold, cold winter days are not a problem either, she said. “You put the fireplace on and get out a good book. And I have happy hour between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.” Other permanent cottagers are snowmobilers.

There are a variety of reasons for the recent flight to cottage country. For one, society is in a period in which people tend to vilify cities and romanticize nature. “I think there’s just a stronger desire to flee the city,” said Barbara.

But the cottages are also much better built today; they are virtually houses. And modern technology has helped ease the transition. The Mitchells have satellite television, Internet hookup, air conditioning, and a cell phone. Their cottage is stylishly rustic: 1,700 square feet with big open rooms, large picture windows and knotty pine paneling.

And yes, permanent cottagers also need their news fix. Not to plug the Free Press, but there are a surprisingly high number of Free Press subscribers among permanent cottagers.

The McRobies are typical of newspaper subscribers here. In summer, they get home delivery, but the rest of the year they drive to nearby town Seven Sisters Falls to pick up the newspaper. Sometimes its a bundle of newspapers if they haven’t been in town for a few days. “I’ll sometimes pick up five back issues at a time,” said Jack McRobie. “Most of us out here are devoted Free Press buyers.”

Barbara Mitchell said the newspaper is a staple of cottage life. As subscribers, the Mitchells can always read it on the Internet, “but it’s not the same as holding the paper.” The Mitchells are part of a group of six full-time cottagers who pick up the mail and newspaper for each another.

The permanent residents tend to buy bulk in the city, stocking up on groceries, and buy “casual” in the local towns like Lac du Bonnet or Beausejour. “Some people think you can’t survive without a Superstore,” said McRobie.

But there are other issues to think about. Everyone here fears fire. There is little in the way of fire service. Manitoba Conservation officers are trained in fighting forest, rather than structural, fires.

“I’ve watched a couple of cottage fires at one in the morning and it’s the biggest bloody glow in the night sky you’ll ever see,” said McRobie. Those were electrical fires. In another winter cottage fire, a woman grabbed her children and ran out to the road for help.

The threat of fire is reflected in insurance premiums, which are 25 per cent higher off the top, and go higher still for cottages with wood stoves.

There are also issues like missing the grandkids, and not being as accessible to parents who may be in senior homes or the hospital.

People also have huge, insulated water tanks under their cottages for drinking and washing that need refilling. There are also septic tanks that need emptying. They have to look after own road clearing, and often band together to pay for the services. Then again, property taxes are only about $1,000 per year.

And then there’s health care. Most permanent cottagers are retirees, so it’s a major issue. The McRobies and Mitchells still trek to Winnipeg for most of their medical attention. As for ambulance service, it takes about 30 minutes to arrive, but you don’t have to take a number once you get to the nearest hospital in Pinawa.

People can still hold on to their cottages when a partner has health problems, if the cottage is a secondary residence. They can’t do that if they make the cottage their home.

“If one of you loses their health, you have to sell the cottage. There are no two ways about it,” said McRobie. It’s something people have to be clear about before they make the jump to permanent cottage life, the Mitchells add.

The year-round residents have also added an element of security to cottage country. In the northern Whiteshell, the permanent residents provide cottage surveillance with a volunteer patrol service. People take turns driving around to inspect cottages two nights and two days a week. They patrol from Eleanor Lake to Betula Lake.

“When we started the patrol, there were averaging 15-20 break-ins per winter. This year we had none,” said McRobie.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca