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!

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Cottage Life

It usually goes like this

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Waterfront • Let it snow! But not too much snow. A pleasant amount. Snowglobe snow.

Keeping up with the mustelids • Weasels and their kin represent North America’s largest and most diverse group of carnivores. Get to know them a little better with our handy guide.

Money talks, busy bees & big cheese

Walk this way • We asked you on Instagram: which critter left these tracks?

Animal Instincts

For the present • We’ve all been there: you need a last-minute gift for an acquaintance. (Because it’s the holidays and what if they got you something? So awkward.) Don’t panic! You can steal our ideas.

Drink it in

It takes two

The pros and cons of a vendor takeback mortgage

Check’n it once • We asked the staff of Cottage Life: what’s on your wish list?

Check’n it twice • Visit cottagelife.com/giftguide to find these products.

Workshop • A DIY gift that can keep kids (and adults) busy for hours? Score one for you.

Puck, puck, puck, loose!

Make a wish • What goodies are our workshop experts hoping for this year?

When glue just won't do

3 new ways to use cutting boards

Keep toes toasty

Universal cordless battery adaptors

From cords to chords

One guitar, six types of wood

To feed or not to feed the chippies

O come, all ye handy • Asking your friends to help with a cottage reno can result in multiple bad outcomes—and not just shoddy workmanship

More homes, but at what cost? • The government’s proposed planning and development changes may be focussed on southern Ontario, but its effects will be felt in cottage country too

Just built different • Clever cabinetry can carve out a place for everything, hide unsightly odds and ends, and cast a welcome spotlight on the objects you value most

The wing king • Who says windsports are just for summer? When long-time cottager Dan Bartoli discovered this affordable, easy-to-pick-up activity, winter at the cottage got a whole lot more exciting

Beyond the lens • After sorting through thousands (and thousands) of entries–yes, we looked at each one–we’ve declared these seven images the winners of our 2022 photo contest

Cold comfort • “Winter” plus “cottage” can spell these 4 seasonal disasters. Don’t worry! Read this, and you can prevent them

Bring the crunch • The leading ladies of salad, sisters Mandy and Rebecca Wolfe of Mandy’s Gourmet Salads, share a peek into their new cookbook and their family’s Quebec chalet. Their Dude Ranch Salad will fill your plate with freshness and a Doritos—yes, Doritos!—flavour explosion

East coast, represent • Look familiar? You’ll recognize the eastern white pine for its windswept appearance in many Group of Seven paintings

Building our story piece by piece