The Collingview
The full front elevation at dusk: stacked charcoal steel and concrete volumes lit by warm soffit lights, with a round porthole window and a rooftop terrace above

The house

Four bedrooms, three storeys, and a roof you can live on.

A modern house built out of concrete, steel and cedar on open ground between Meaford and Thornbury. Here is what is actually in it.

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Sleeps
8–12
Bedrooms
4
Bathrooms
4
Square feet
4,500
Acres
2.5
Great room ceiling
18ft
Views
360°

Arriving

Down a drive, past a pond.

The house is not visible from the road. A private drive curves in past the pond and a long sweep of open meadow, climbs, and then the building appears all at once on the high point of the property, with the land falling away behind it and the escarpment across the horizon.

It reads as three stacked volumes — concrete through the middle, dark steel to either side, warm cedar where the building meets the ground — with a round porthole window set high on the front. At dusk, downlights under every eave pick the whole thing out against the sky. It is a good way to arrive.

A gravel drive curving past a pond and open mown fields toward the house on a rise
The rear of the house above a level lawn, with a run of glass doors and a stone stair set into the grass
Flagstone steps and ornamental grasses climbing between boulders to a side entrance
The double-height great room with a board-formed concrete wall, plank timber ceiling, ring pendants and a glass wall onto the deck
Lounge seating facing a linear gas fireplace and wall-mounted television, with the dining table and kitchen beyond
The kitchen run with gloss white cabinetry, gas cooktop, deep sink and sputnik pendants overhead
A long timber dining table with bench and chairs set between the kitchen island and the stair

The main floor

One room, two storeys high.

The great room runs the full height of the building. One wall is board-formed concrete, left as it came out of the forms. Overhead, a plank timber ceiling in a weathered grey-brown. Ring pendants and a cluster of sputnik fittings hang in the volume. A linear gas fireplace is set into a slab of marbled stone.

The kitchen is part of the same room rather than tucked away from it: a long stone island with seating along one side, gloss white cabinetry, a gas range and full-size stainless appliances. The dining table is timber, long, and set between the island and the stair. A wall of glass doors slides open onto the deck, which runs the length of the house.

See all the photographs

Upstairs

Somewhere else to be.

The thing that makes a house work for a large group is not the number of beds. It is having more than one place to sit. Upstairs there is a loft with a table tennis table, sofas on both sides and a glass rail over the great room. Further along, a second sitting room — quieter, with a long ribbon window and a hutch — for the people who have had enough of table tennis.

A table tennis table in the upper loft with sofas either side under a plank timber ceiling
The loft: table tennis, sofas, and a rail over the room below.
The loft table tennis area beside a glass balustrade looking down over the main floor
A quiet upstairs sitting room with sofas, a glazed hutch and a long ribbon window

Sleeping

Rooms that do not look like each other.

The primary suite has a dark tiled feature wall, a recessed light cove in the timber ceiling, its own linear fireplace and a door straight outside. Its ensuite is the most theatrical room in the house: a freestanding tub in front of a floor-to-ceiling wall of deep blue glazed tile, twin vanities against concrete, and a dressing room next door lined wall to wall in cabinetry with a rolling library ladder.

Elsewhere the rooms change character completely. Some are lined in corrugated galvanised steel with a fireplace and a door onto the lawn. Others are panelled in pine, or set against a carved dark timber wall. More than one has its own kitchenette — a sink, a fridge and a counter — which is what makes the house work when two or three households arrive at once.

A king bed against a dark tiled feature wall, under a timber ceiling with a recessed light cove
The primary suite, with its own fireplace and a door straight outside.
A freestanding soaker tub in front of a floor-to-ceiling wall of deep blue glazed tile, lit by two crystal pendants
A wall of blue glazed tile — the one moment in the house that raises its voice.
A bedroom lined in corrugated galvanised steel with a fireplace, television and timber mantel opposite the bed
Galvanised steel walls — a deliberate choice, and a surprisingly warm one.
A guest suite with its own kitchenette, armchairs and a queen bed under a timber ceiling
Some rooms come with their own kitchenette.
A barbecue, fire bowl and lounge seating arranged along the sheltered edge of the rooftop terrace

The roof

The whole top of the house is outside.

The roof is a full terrace: turf underfoot, glass railings on every side, a hot tub, a gas fire bowl, a barbecue, loungers and a sectional big enough for everyone. It faces the Niagara Escarpment, which runs unbroken across the horizon, with a band of Georgian Bay visible above the tree line to one side.

The sun sets over the ridge, more or less straight ahead. Most evenings, this is where the group ends up.

What is here

Everything below is in the photographs.

We list only what we can show you. Anything not yet confirmed — heating, internet speeds, charging, and the exact bed configuration — is left off until it is.

Outside
  • Rooftop terraceA full open-air level on top of the house, laid with turf and railed in glass.
  • Hot tubOn the rooftop terrace, facing the ridge.
  • Gas fire bowlSet among the rooftop seating.
  • Kitchenette on the roofSo the roof works for a whole evening without anyone going back downstairs.
  • Barbecue
  • Outdoor diningA six-seat table on the main deck.
  • Covered deckSheltered, looking over the pond.
  • Full-length deck
  • Ground-level fire ring
  • PondBeside the entrance drive.
  • Open lawn and meadow
  • Private drive
  • Lawn and deck games
Room to gather
  • Great room with 18ft ceilingsEighteen feet to the ceiling, floor-to-ceiling glass and patio doors straight onto the deck.
  • Table tennisIn the upper loft.
  • Games loft
  • Second sitting roomUpstairs, away from the main floor.
  • Long indoor dining table
  • Gas fireplacesIn the great room, the primary suite and several bedrooms.
  • Televisions
Kitchen and dining
  • Chef's kitchenProfessional-grade appliances, granite counters and a fifteen-foot island.
  • Island seating
  • Additional kitchenettesMore than one guest area has its own sink, fridge and counter.
Sleeping and bathing
  • Primary suiteWith a fireplace, ensuite and its own door outside.
  • Freestanding soaker tub
  • Walk-in showers
  • Dressing roomWall-to-wall cabinetry with a rolling ladder.
  • Ground-level walkout bedroomsSome rooms open straight onto the lawn.
  • A bedroom wing that locks offThe secondary bedroom wing can be closed off partially or completely and has its own separate entrance — so a second household, or grandparents, get a self-contained side of the house.
  • Fireplace in the primary suite
  • Dual shower in the primary ensuiteAlongside the freestanding soaker tub and a separate toilet vestibule.
Getting around
  • ElevatorA Vertech commercial-grade car running from the garage all the way to the rooftop terrace. Unusual in a house this size, and the reason the roof works for guests who would rather not take three flights of stairs.
  • Three-bay garage and workshopInsulated, with a workshop, plus three further covered parking spaces.
Practical
  • LaundryWasher and dryer on site.

The same walk, moving

Now watch it.

Three minutes, every room above, and the roof at both ends of the day. It plays here — you do not have to go anywhere.

What happens, moment by moment

A fair question

Is this a cottage, or a house?

People arrive here searching for a cottage rental, so the honest answer is worth putting somewhere findable. In the Ontario sense of the word — pine, a dock, a wood stove, a certain amount of damp — no. This is a house. It was built to be lived in year round and it is finished like it.

What it shares with a good large cottage is the part that matters: it is private, it is on its own land, it holds a group, and there is nothing to do in the evening but sit outside. What it does not share is the compromise. Four bathrooms rather than a queue. Radiant floor heat rather than a stove you feed at two in the morning. An elevator rather than a ladder to a loft.

If you have booked cottages for years and want that specific feeling, you will probably prefer a cottage. If you have booked cottages for years and quietly resented them, this is the one to try.

Ready to see it in person?

Send us your dates and the shape of your group, and we will come back with availability, the sleeping layout that suits you, and anything else you need.

Check availabilitySee the gallery first

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