Retreat & relax in a sprawling Niagara Escarpment country home with 7 acres of colourful fall trees, peace, privacy, trails thru the Carolinian forest connecting to larger Dundas Valley/Bruce Trail system. Area part of a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Several mesmerizing waterfalls of Dundas/Hamilton/Ancaster minutes drive away. Home is nestled between road trips to Toronto (1 ½ hrs) or Niagara Falls ( 1 ½ hrs) & minutes drive to shopping, farms, restaurants, entertainment, everything close!
The space
Leave all your cares behind as you enter the forested quiet of Tree House Retreat. This Niagara Escarpment setting is perfect for multi-generational families, wedding guests, outdoor sports and nature enthusiasts, writer's, artist, yoga retreats, birders, friend get-aways - a place of peace away from the bustle of daily life.
The home is set on a hill and green views and beautiful fall leaf colours will abound through ample floor to ceiling windows, screen doors and skylights. Surround yourself with light from all angles and a beautiful mixed forest teaming with birds. Maybe open skies and natural vitamin D from the sun is your jam? In that case choose the sunny areas at the large salt water pool (open through September) to lounge comfortably with your group and curl up with a book.
This thoughtfully decorated 3000 square foot home feels more like a cottage with the benefits of being minutes from the vibrant century town of Dundas, Ontario and a short drive to the big city of Hamilton with its industrial, cultural, gritty, eclectic vibe. For easy visiting the towns of Ancaster, Brantford, Burlington, Freelton, Stoney Creek, Waterdown and Oakville are very nearby. Further down the highway are Niagara Falls and Toronto. There is a long private gravel driveway with ample parking for up to ten cars for your exploring.
An awesome feature of this property is a screened in porch (23 feet x 14 feet) offering 3 seasons of beauty, hooting owls and breezes built on the second floor cantilevered into the forest. There are plenty of couches in this room and a large dining table with seating for 10 people and makes quite a work-from-home office too!
The home is custom 70's architecture, two floor, ranch style, post modern, featuring local fine artists. There are two working wood burning fireplaces indoors in living room and king bedroom.
On first floor a bar seating kitchen features views to the woods and new Bosch appliances of dishwasher and induction cooktop/convection oven/warming drawer and a filtered, reverse osmosis drinking water tap, over a large double sink. Owner is a Chef so the kitchen likely contains anything you might need including crockpot, rice cooker, all kitchen-ware, food processor, bakeware, etc., to create and serve your meals. If you prefer to support local and outsource your meals there is plenty of restaurants and prepared food options at farms and stores nearby and maps and details will be available. Open concept kitchen and dining room have sliding doors to the deck and bird feeders for ample bird watching. Indoor dining room table featuring beautiful dining ware can be expanded to seat up to 10 people. On this floor a private sitting room/the 5th bedroom with floor to ceiling window to the woods features a plush (Queen) air mattress folding from a pull out couch and big screen TV with access to a powder room. There is also an open concept living room (fireplace) lounging couches, puzzles and board games area on this floor.
On the ground level bedroom floor: Two bedrooms (1 King, 1 Queen) feature walk out patio doors with screens. Both have small desks for work. Two more bedrooms on this floor feature a colourful 2 twin room and a double bed room with a small work desk. Each room has windows to access the fresh forest air. Each room has drying racks for swimming and sport gear and has bluetooth speaker/fm radio/phone charging/alarm clock/usb & wireless charging stations compatible with several types of devices and ear buds. These music stations can be moved around the house to enjoy your music anywhere. Bathrooms are an ensuite from primary bedroom (King) with walk in rain head shower and double sinks. Three bedrooms share a full bathroom featuring soaker tub and walk in rain shower. There is a new washer and dryer and laundry sink on this floor.
Outdoor features include: There is a large second floor outdoor balcony for morning coffees and afternoon aperitifs. This deck has tables/seating for ten and a large new 5 burner broil king propane grill. Glass panelled railings are here for great views. A shaded ground level porch walkout from King and Queen bedrooms features benches, two-seater porch swing and assorted weights, skipping ropes and boxing bag for light outdoor training. You can also keep moving doing laps in a custom 20x40 in ground salt water pool featuring three foot shallow end and eight foot deep end, with water fountain feature, night lighting, diving board, stone decking surround with flower gardens and pool cabana/change room. Pool deck has a basketball net, ping pong table and there is a large tilting sun umbrella and lounge seating. A further set of loungers near the front door features late afternoon sun. Many areas are lovely for yoga on the property, two mats and bolsters are available and there are studios in Dundas for classes. Living, moving and relaxing spaces abound!
Outbuildings include a children's tree house/play gym. Keeping the carbon footprint lower owners have installed an energy efficient heat pump for heating/air conditioning and electric support from solar panels. An extra large clothing rack is ready in good weather. The Niagara Escarpment forest is managed ecologically and features many rare Carolinian forest plant and animal species. There are plenty of nature books stacked in the living room for you to look up species you came across. Gardens are evolving with native species and are managed with permaculture principles of land, nature and people stewardship. House wastewater is on a septic system. House water is from a cistern featuring fully filtered, reverse osmosis, UV light treated water for all needs.
Safety Features: Simple first aid kit is available in house. Fire extinguishers and smoke and CO detectors are placed throughout house and connected to an alarm monitoring station. Please be aware that safe swim and play is the responsibility of you and your guests at your own risk. Note that the home property is set on a hill so walking to and from pool and to hiking paths does include the need to be comfortable using twenty steps with railings and managing a short hill.
Note driveway includes a small, steep hill and during winter driving four wheel drive vehicles are recommended for driving safety. There are many marked and rustically maintained paths for hiking and forest bathing and maps are available. It is strongly recommended to pack covered hiking foot ware for all and wear them for your safety and comfort. Tick aware practice when hiking is a good idea in this area.
Guest access
It is a keyless entry system for your convenience. The entire home is available to guests except one locked room inside. There is free outdoor- only parking. Pool area will be closed and locked in spring, fall and winter. Four wheel drive vehicles are recommended for winter driving. Bee keeping hut and chicken coop are empty and not accessible.
Other things to note
This property is part of a large nature/wildlife corridor so care after dark is needed as there may be very occasionally the presence of coyotes. You will likely see deer and many small foraging creatures like chipmunks and squirrels, frogs and toads around, please never feed any animals. We are a pesticide and herbicide free property so a healthy ecosystem of wood's bugs and creatures are present. There is a rail line close by so you will hear occasional ambient noise from this and also take care that you and your guests walk with extreme caution if you cross off the 7 acre private property near the rail line.
