Cottage Life

The go-to source for cottagers, the award-winning Cottage Life offers valuable advice as well as profiles, how-to articles, recipes, essays, issues pieces, and lifestyle stories that help readers look after their cottages, entertain guests and, of course, kick back and have fun.

S’more stuff • How you can read, watch, stream, share, and visit—Cottage Life is everywhere!

Contributors

Cottage Life

Rent to own

Your Letters

Waterfront • Goodbye sunburn, bug bites, and high humidity; hello, fall! We can’t wait to enjoy the season.

COTTAGE LIFE AFTER DARK

EYES TO THE SKIES

Nyctophobia is an overwhelming fear of the dark.

A LITTLE BIRD TOLD US • We asked on Instagram: what’s a good caption for this hilarious shot? These were our favourites.

Spooky season is coming • Still looking for this year’s Halloween getup? Take a classic costume idea and combine it with some inspiration from your summer at the lake.

They’re tackling it as a team

TOP IT LIKE IT’S NOT

PAINT PICKS, TAX FIX & BEER BUZZ

A leap year

MORTGAGE STRATEGIES FOR FREELANCERS

Workshop • Aw man, it’s time to start thinking about closing up already?

A ONE-STOP CHOP

Fuel me once

A chain of thought

Up your campfire game

Where’s the %#$@! plunger? • Not where you remember leaving it, apparently. There’s a clog and guests are about…uh oh

Why do seagulls hate the loons on our lake?

Collection agents • Has the cottage become a dumping ground for your whole family’s unwanted stuff? Here’s how to dig yourselves out of the heap

At ease with the bees • This resourceful couple redid their charming, one-room cabin with a modest budget and a nod to Iranian traditions

MANY HAPPY RETURNS • Fifteen years ago, a whole generation of Christian Island cottage kids went their separate ways. And then—in a plot twist that was meant to be—they all came back

YOU’RE IN FOR A WORLD OF DIRT • Or…soil. Get yourself a low-maintenance, erosion-resisting, methane-preventing compost pile at the lake. And guess what? It’s easy. Here’s how to get started

WILD NIGHT OUT • Nocturnal critters don’t stay up late just to creep you out. Here’s what they’re really up to

AFTER HOURS CLUB • Put together a killer cheeseboard for less than $50

THE COMING OF THE TEMPEST • To celebrate the spooky season, Giller Prize-nominated, bestselling novelist Lisa Moore wrote us an original horror story. It’s not for the faint of heart. Don’t say we didn’t warn you

A fishy business • In the fall, lake trout mates are meeting at spawning grounds for their aquatic, romantic rendezvous

The cottage anthology • We have faithfully kept a guest book since we purchased our cottage in 1987. Guests regularly consult, add to, and admire our 10 fat scrapbooks bulging with entries. They’re the recorded moments of the lives of interconnected humans, animals, insects, and plants, in and around one small cottage property, on one small Ontario lake.