News Blog

As 2025 draws to a close, it’s time to look back on the happy times people have had at Fancy Free over the years. We are grateful to all the families who have chosen Fancy Free as the place where their happiest summer memories are made. Laughter and high spirits get somehow absorbed in the very walls of Fancy Free cottage and much of this is documented in the memorabilia left in the guest book.

Our guests have given us poems, photos, hand- made cards, heartfelt inscriptions, and sometimes even short essays and artwork that capture their memories. The children in particular love to leave their drawings. We have many magic-marker-made depictions of the front porch, the view of the lake, the view out of the windows in their rooms, and the cottage as seen from the front dock. They are all delightful and we cherish them.

So let’s take a peek at the guest books, shall we?

Here are some more comments guests have left behind: 

“Words cannot describe this past week: family, friends, fun, laughter, smiles, happiness…I will always remember my three and a half year old, Maddie, learning how to swim off the dock…” D.O., Ottawa, July 8-16, 2011

“We had a great week on Fancy Free Island! The weather included a “monster” thunderstorm, scorching heat, howling winds and gorgeous sunshine… in short, it was perfect! Our gang made excellent use of the kitchen and bbq- we ate like kings and queens! The sailing was terrific…we put the Sunfish to good use. Glad you had kayaks and canoes- it’s a great way to visit the shoreline and get lost among the islands across the way…” J.E., Ottawa, July 16-23, 2011

“Yet another fabulous year at Fancy Free Island. Our second year will not be our last. Weather was fantastic, fishing superb. Lots of bass all around the island. [Fancy Free is] a small island with big character. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.” T.L. & family, England, Scotland and Canada, 29th July 2006

“As soon as we stepped on the island dock we knew we had found paradise! The week went by too quickly. We’ll always remember swimming to the raft. Paddle boarding was a new-found joy…” M.H., Ottawa, 2021

Among the notes in the guest book is this undated card from some of our American guests, who had clearly stopped to exchange currency at the border with Canada on Hill Island on the Thousand Islands bridge. Their note of thanks was on the back of the Custom House Currency Exchange card! 

As 2025 winds down to a close, and we huddle in the midst of winter winds and snow, it’s easy to feel a bit of sweet nostalgia by looking back at all the glorious summer memories made by our guest families over the years. Each of them have become, in their own way, part of Fancy Free’s long history. We are grateful to all of them.

 Have a very merry holiday season! We look forward to the making of more treasured spring, summer and fall memories in this very special corner of Big Rideau Lake in 2026. 

All seasons are beautiful when you live surrounded by nature, as we are at Fancy Free, but September and October are our favourite months on Big Rideau. Daytime temperatures are far more comfortable for outdoor adventures than summer’s heat. The romance of viewing the sunset from the tip of the island coincides happily with the dinner hour. The hues of the forests slowly change from green to brillant flame, so that every day there are new surprises in store. Birds are migrating. Geese fly in flocks over the cottage frequently, and noisily. On or off the island, it’s a moveable feast of colour and sound.

In this blog post I’ll give you a glimpse of some of the things that made the autumn of 2024 very special. But first, for those who have not yet had a holiday on Fancy Free and would like to book a rental in 2025, there are still some beautiful weeks available. Just check the frequently updated calendar here on the website, and fill out the booking form here. We look forward to introducing you to the wonders of nature at Fancy Free Island, a uniquely beautiful Canadian gem.

As October progresses, the woods become lushly multicoloured, with some trees glowing almost fluorescent orange against the vivid blue of the lake. Autumn in the Rideau Lakes makes it easy to imagine what it would be like to live inside a Group of Seven painting. Life is all around you, in full technicolor.

One reason that nature is so vivid on Fancy Free lies in the fact that the Island has a broad, unimpeded view of the western sky over Big Rideau Lake. This means that on every clear night we are literally bathed in the sunset. which is inevitably glorious. As the sun sinks below the horizon, banners of cloud above Turnip Island light up with orange. The bright clouds are reflected onto the water, so the entire view of lake plus sky sometimes takes on a transcendental cathedral-like luminescence. It’s an almost otherworldly beauty at times.

“The very forest and herbage, the pellicle of the earth, must acquire a bright color, an evidence of its ripeness,—as if the globe itself were a fruit on its stem, with ever a cheek toward the sun.”

Henry David Thoreau

Autumn has some strong celestial elements as well. With evenings in October starting early, dark sky viewing becomes possible without sleep deprivation. The night sky in the fall is sometimes the highlight of the day.

This year we have been exceptionally lucky with night sky viewing, starting with the mid-October Hunter’s Moon. The skies have been clear and the moon so bright that it traced the island’s lawn with shadows at two in the morning. Magically, the Hunter’s moon shone directly through our south-facing bedroom window in the cottage, its milky beams angled onto our pillows as if giving us a heavenly blessing as we slept.

Each week this fall it seemed that the solar system produced something new to astound us. On October 10, the sun emitted a large number of charged particles, resulting in a widespread Aurora Borealis all over Canada. To our astonishment we were given a light show in the sky above our boathouse. As we watched in amazement, the sky filled with faint dancing phantoms of light – green flares with tinges of red. We have never seen the Northern Lights so clearly before.

Finally, in the week of October 19, the early evening sky gave us the ultimate experience, the rarest of all: the comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the west above Long Island. This comet was last seen 80,000 years ago, and once it is gone, it will be another 80,000 years before it goes by our planet again.

We’ve been busy with end of year maintenance projects, but we take time every day to enjoy the season. This year we’ve been exploring the lovely hills and valleys of nearby Mill Pond Conservation Area, listening to the aerial honking of migrating geese and the soft hoots of the occasional Barred or Saw Whet Owl as we weave through the golden trees and crunch the fallen leaves underfoot on the trails.

It seems as if nature has been outdoing itself to impress us with visual splendour this fall.

Soon, though, this magical season will come to an end. We closed up for the season on October 23, since the frosts were starting to deepen overnight. We can’t wait to come back next spring.

We are grateful to our wonderful guests of 2024. Each and every member of the families who spent time at Fancy Free this season has been an exceptional guest and each, in their own way, added their story to the long history of Fancy Free Island. Thanks to our guests, we are able to continue to keep this historic cottage in excellent condition and naturalize the perimeter gardens. We look forward to seeing everybody who wants to come back again as well as welcoming new groups in future years.

Pamela and Tom Gough