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As we prepare to say goodbye to 2021, Tom and I would like to thank all the visitors, guests, friends, family and neighbors who made Fancy Free part of their lives over the year. We truly appreciate your coming to Fancy Free and wish you and yours a joyful and meaning-filled holiday season. While we hope to see you again in the future, we understand that some of you will be travelling on to explore other places and might not be able to return. We hope your memories of Fancy Free in the summer of 2021 will remain in your thoughts as a very special place and time. Isolarii is Italian for “island texts” and is a term for a genre of small books from Renaissance-era Venice that were dedicated to a single idea or perspective. The name references the concept of an island as a unique place in itself, a place that is splendid in its isolation. As we all emerge from a year of isolation and dislocation, the concept of an island as a place of respite is one that resonates for many of us. Island keepers are something like lighthouse keepers. They tend to be stewards of their special landmarks. In this respect Tom and I could be called radical preservationists. We delight in keeping Fancy Free largely as it has been all along and refraining from imprinting the 21st century on it.  I remember my first glimpse of the living room, with its movie-set-like quality. It felt like I was stepping back in time. The overstuffed sofa and chairs, the chintz curtains, the photos and memorabilia on the walls, and the antique hutches with vintage china on display, the stuffed fish- it was like being in an Agatha Christie book. I expected Hercule Poirot to come… Read More »Newsletter December 2021

A UNESCO-Acclaimed Landscape: Daydreaming and Day Tripping at Fancy Free: When Fancy Free reopens for the season in May 2021, it will be 140 years old. Since the time it was built, it has been passed down within the original families. Amazingly, it has never been sold. Our guests tell us that the exclusivity and authenticity of Fancy Free is the best possible antidote to the stresses of the pandemic and the hectic pace of modern life. It’s hard to describe, but on Fancy Free Island you get a sense of being in a place that is somehow set apart from the everyday. Boaters wave and smile as they go by. Fancy Free is part of the landscape of the region but because it’s is a little separated from the mainland it has that special mystique that islands convey. It’s rooted in the past but very much part of the present- like living in a little resort that’s been there since Victorian times. You even get the sense that there’s a bit of time travel going on with it. If you close your eyes in the living room, it’s easy to imagine opening them and being in the 1940s or even earlier. A cozy fall night on the sofa watching something from the cottage CD collection of classic Humphrey Bogarts really brings this feeling on! There are some very good reasons why Fancy Free feels like such a special place. It is located in an area that is recognized by UNESCO as being world class in two ways. Big Rideau Lake is not only part of UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s also on the edge of a the Frontenac Arch, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This means that along with its deep and well-preserved historical heritage, the area around Fancy Free… Read More »Newsletter November 2020

Hello all, it’s Pam writing to you from Fancy Free cottage. It’s been a glorious summer on Big Rideau Lake. We hope you have had a chance to get away and enjoy a classic Canadian  “C” – cabin, campsite or cottage. Here’s a quick update and some Eastern Ontario insider tips. There are still some good weeks available at Fancy Free before the 2020 season ends. We are taking bookings now for 2021 as well. If you are interested, please fill out the inquiry form here. People often ask us what our favourite month is at Fancy Free. The answer might surprise you – or maybe not. It’s September.  Most of September is very summery here in southern Ontario. Summer this year officially goes from June 20 to the September equinox on September 22nd. That means that on Big Rideau Lake, temperatures are still warm and sometimes even hot during the day for a good part of the month- ideal for a lakeside cottage. But unlike mid-summer, the evenings cool down beautifully in September and all the biting insects completely disappear. You can lie out at night and watch the display of stars and planets roll across the night sky to your heart’s content. It gets dark earlier in the evening, which is a bonus to star gazers since you don’t have to stay up past midnight. Fancy Free is in a dark sky area so if it’s clear you can see a spectacular array of constellations. Sleep comes easily under one of Fancy Free’s fluffy duvets. If the morning air has a chill to it, all the better for making a fire in Fancy Free’s Swedish wood stove, whipping up a batch of pancakes, topping them with local maple syrup, then going for a paddle in the canoe off the dock of Fancy… Read More »Newsletter August 2020

Summer is a time for joyful renewal in Canada. This year, it seems that more people than ever are seeking a nature-based retreat as a way to counter the stress and strain of our weeks of lockdown due to COVID-19. It’s been a very difficult year for many. We are putting together summer plans in the midst of much uncertainty about what government restrictions will stay in place, and what this will mean for the cottage rental season.  As Fancy Free’s owners, we want to ensure complete compliance with government regulations on the use of cottages over the summer. We have modified our procedures so that when the way is clear for our guests to come, they will be safe, and they in turn will keep those around them in the Rideau Lakes community safe as well. Since this year is an exceptional one, we have loosened our cancellation policy to make sure that our guests will not be out of pocket if they (or we) need to cancel as a result of a COVID-related change in plans.  One thing that is certain is that summer is coming, and it will be beautiful. So to put you in a summer mood, we’ve gathered together some photos from our album that show Fancy Free in June, which is one of the most spectacular months of the year.  First, with an island cottage it’s all about the water. Big Rideau Lake’s water levels are controlled by Parks Canada using the dams and locks in the Rideau Canal system. In the spring, the water level is allowed to rise to let the spring meltwater work its way through the system. The water level changes a lot during the course of the year, with the spring having the highest water level and the fall… Read More »Newsletter June 2020

As we move into a new year and a new decade, I’d like to take a few moments to thank the many people who have helped to make Fancy Free the very special spot that it is. Some of these are friends, some are family, some are neighbours, and some are guests who over the years have made Fancy Free their home away from home for a week or two and often return or keep in touch in various ways. All are important to us, as they are part of that rare, intangible sense of connectedness to the past that people feel once they settle into a day or two of life on Fancy Free island.  History and the present day meld together seamlessly. Indeed, our introduction to all guests includes the idea that just by being there, they become part of the history of Fancy Free too. Not much has changed over the years on Fancy Free island, since somehow the beauty of the island and the recipe that was first used to build and furnish the cottage at Fancy Free is so timeless that there seems to be no need to improve upon it. The views out of each window of the sparkling waters of Big Rideau Lake are endlessly hypnotic. The joys of swimming and boating, of reading on the porch or slacking off in the hammock, of group meals al fresco around the picnic table by the barbeque, or gatherings around the fire pit, or playing ball or badminton on the lawns or board games around the table, all have been enjoyed in much the same way by generation after generation for almost 150 years.  One of the comments that we hear often is the sense of peace, family togetherness and psychic restoration that people experience… Read More »Newsletter January 2020

It’s with great excitement that we launch our newly updated website! Many thanks to our current webmaster, Mary Bella (Maestra Web Design) of Etobicoke, Ontario, for all her hard work. Our deepest gratitude goes to our outgoing webmaster Anshu Mathur of Waterloo, Ontario, who kept the Fancy Free website updated for 10 years. We hope you like our new site. It’s got all the features of the old site: the history, the photos, the happy comments from guests. With this update, the site is more dynamic and easier to use. And there are lots more pictures!  Fancy Free Island is so photogenic that you can really never get enough pictures.   Over the last few summers, Fancy Free has had some intensive renewal projects done. The boathouse has been strengthened and slightly enlarged, and now boasts Cape Cod siding, skylights and a lifetime-warranty steel roof. The new French doors on the second floor have opened up a hitherto hidden view of the channel that is quite literally breathtaking.  You can see the full sweep of the shoreline and the sparkling water of the channel stretching along for miles to the northeast, the water dotted with islands large and small. It’s the kind of view that you can look at for hours. Fancy Free cottage has also had its roof replaced and last year got a complete exterior paint job. When you’re 140 years old, you need a bit of a facelift now and then. We are looking forward to opening in May for another much anticipated summer season. One of the rituals of opening is hanging out the Fancy Free welcome sign. It’s a little plaque, a sort of tchotchke, made in nearby Westport years ago from a slab of wood cut along the grain.  Etched on it are words that… Read More »Newsletter March 2019

Welcome to spring! It’s been a busy couple of years at Fancy Free and her sister island Footloose. We’ve embarked on a series of rejuvenation projects aimed at ensuring that the historic features of Fancy Free’s cottage, main island and boathouse are preserved and that all structures are kept in excellent condition. The boathouse has received a new roof, new siding, and new foundations, and has been very slightly expanded to add more storage space. The summer of 2017 will see upgrades going on in the cottage itself, mainly in the kitchen, as well as a complete paint job. We will not be engaging in rentals this season as a result. Look for future updates to come out as work progresses in our renewal project!