Lynn and I have lived in two homes. One was a century home in Cookstown, Ontario. Our current home is another century home situated on 25 scenic acres near Creemore, Ontario. While we are relatively comfortable with renovating and restoring older homes, we know very little about planning the construction of a cottage.

Recently we met with a prospective builder for our cottage along with someone who could install the septic system and driveway and prepare the building site. When we make plans for our nature retreat, the environment and the impact that we will have on it are always foremost on our minds.

We are not going to be the most environmentally friendly of cottagers as we want indoor plumbing and electricity. We can see the day when we are older when we will live at the cottage for eight months of the year, maybe longer.

While our water and energy use will have an impact on the environment, the environment is playing a significant part in our cottage construction decisions. We will install a quality, larger than required, septic system. Our driveway will be short so as to disrupt the forest as little as possible.

Lynn and I are supposed to get a preliminary plan for our cottage to the builder we talked to so that he can provide us with an estimate of what it will cost to build. This task is proving to be both an exciting and frustrating experience (part of the frustration is due to my inability to comprehend how the cottage will look by looking at plans on a piece of paper.) Lynn has used our computer and her planning skills to make an impressive draft of our future cottage.

We want a small cottage for various reasons. A small cottage will allow us to be able to build sooner. And, since we've fallen in love with the area where we'll be putting down some roots, we're anxious to start life at Lake Wah-Wash-Kesh as soon as possible. A small cottage will also be easy to keep clean. The last thing we want to do at the cottage is spend any more time than is absolutely necessary cleaning.

A small cottage will also have less of an impact on the environment than a larger cottage would. A small cottage will require less energy to heat and it will take up less of the forest floor. Our initial plans are for a cottage approximately 800 square feet. This size isn't much over the minimum required by the township. I don't know why a minimum size is required when huge, rambling cottages are permitted to be built in environmentally sensitive areas.

The challenging part is designing a small cottage so that it doesn't feel too small. We'd like it to have a cozy, but not cramped, atmosphere. Building the cottage on a block foundation will enable us to keep the size of the cottage as small as possible since we can put the water pump and electrical panel in the basement. The basement will also be useful for storage. The block foundation will allow us to winterize the cottage and effectively wildlife-proof it. After all, we want to live in harmony with the other animals on their land.

In order to install the septic system and build the cottage, several trees and bushes will have to be killed. We've already spent time transplanting trees and planning routes that will minimize destruction to the forest. Lynn has pointed out that I'm going to be very upset when the trees are cut down and that I might want to stay away during this time. I will be upset, but I'll be present as much as possible to ensure that every attempt is made to minimize our destruction. And, once our modest cottage in the woods is built, we'll do what we can to live in harmony with the natural world.