Check Into an Idyllic Country B&B in Ontario You’ll Wish Was Your Own

With the help of local architect Brian Clark, Susan and Glen Wallis masterfully restored their home, which comprises an original 190-year-old post-and-beam house and a 110-year-old brick addition. Natural materials such as cedar, stone and walnut give the exterior a welcoming warmth that seamlessly balances old and new. Their smart landscaping is the perfect complement. “Glen and I love lavender and we both wanted a low-maintenance front walk,” says Susan. They sourced 80 small plants from a local lavender farm and framed the walk with these beauties that are both pretty and practical. Bed-and-breakfast guests will enjoy the effect in the lavender-inspired soaps and shampoos on offer.

Glen’s art history diploma and passion for experimenting with discarded objects are on display in this composition, a unique wall hanging, he crafted. We love how his choice of recycled items, including traditionally shaped wooden spindles, take on a contemporary air thanks to the white-on-white treatment he gave them. Their ordered straight lines are a cool juxtaposition to the natural splashiness of the potted plant.

Each of the three bedrooms is unique and inspired by the Wallis’s three passions: art, carpentry and gardening. This serene setting is the Gardener’s Room, coveted for its expansive views and its perfect position to take in Instagram-worthy sunsets. “We tried to keep the ambiance light and airy,” says Susan. “It has a large picture window that looks out to the lake and gardens, which we feel is the focus of the space.” The bed was made by Glen from local wormy maple and is sold through his website (wallisdesignbuild.com).

B&B owner and host are just two of the hats Susan wears; she’s also an accomplished artist (see more here) who switched her focus from acrylic to encaustic painting in 2002. “This is one of my lake paintings inspired by the view out the window to East Lake,” she says. “I experiment with the atmospheric effects of light and weather on the lake’s surface through the ancient medium of encaustic painting, which consists of fusing layers of oil pigment and wax.”

This corner of The Gardener’s Room features paintings from Susan’s Sky Series. The delightful foot stool is a mate to a wingback chair, both of which Susan enhanced artistically (and with an idea that’s easy to copy). “It’s an homage to my mother who passed away in 2015,” she says. “I reupholstered her chair and stool in canvas and sewed on these doilies I had collected over the years.”

This unexpected coffee table is a family heirloom. “My parents brought it with them when the immigrated to Canada in 1956 and it still has the sticker from the boat on the side,” says Susan. She had Glen attach wooden legs to it and finish the top with three pieces of glass cut to fit in between the wooden braces. “I’ll pass it onto my kids as a representation of my parents’ courage to leave their home and travel across an ocean to a new country and a new life.”

This guest bathroom, one of three ensuites, features a mirror with some added local provenance. “Walking the beautiful beaches of Sandbanks, I collected these small pieces of driftwood,” says Susan. “I bought a uniquely shaped mirror at a second-hand shop and Glen adhered it to a piece of wood for me. I then arranged the driftwood around it like puzzle pieces fitting into each other.” Glen crafted the sleek solid vanity from birchwood.

This corner of the house is a communal reading nook – a little library of sorts – that Susan decorated with letter artwork she painted using her preferred encaustic technique. They feel bright and contemporary next to the vintage chairs and are a nod to the books below, most of which are about the history of Prince Edward County.

This is The Carpenter’s Room, which Susan says is the coziest of the three rooms. Glen designed the headboard using hemlock boards reclaimed from the property’s original walls. The pillows are pure fun. “Although we are not the best Scrabble players, we do love the game and organize a Scrabble tournament each February,” says Susan. “Hence, when I saw these cushions on Etsy I had to have them.”

The bedside painting is by the owners’ daughter, Vanessa Rieger, who is also an artist. “I just love this encaustic piece and the way Vanessa embedded lace and the transfer of a photo of a gun,” says Susan. “She titled it ‘Grandma’s Gun’ and it’s a quirky piece that I love.” To the right of the painting is a magnetic bird from Umbra that acts as a key hook.

“A friend gave us this old dresser when they were moving,” says Susan. “Glen cut a hole in the marble top and added a bowl sink to it. The top drawer hides the plumbing and still allows for a half drawer to store toiletries. We love mixing old and new pieces together, so this dresser was the perfect fit.”

Like the gorgeous dresser, the tub was also a gift. “Our friends gave it to us when they were renovating their old home in the County. It’s old and weighs a ton!” says Susan. “We painted the outside of it, re-enamelled the interior ourselves and had the feet re-chromed.” The artwork is an encaustic painting of a nest on paper by Susan.

The dining room’s impressive ceiling beams were originally hidden in a drop ceiling. “Once we took the ceiling down we were thrilled to find these beams in the original part of the house that dates back to the early 1800s.” The couple took a wire brush and cleaned them so that they could be left exposed. “Dry walling the ceiling above them was a bit tricky, but we managed.” The table and most of the chairs were garage sale finds, and the mod chandeliers are from IKEA.

The dining room also features a large-scale composition by Glen (made with some help from son Dylan). It features found and recycled items, as well as one with very special meaning. Look to the top left and you’ll see a sculpture of a Bassett hound – it’s a loving nod to Oscar, the family’s 14-year-old pooch who is also a firm favourite among guests.

In the kitchen, the first thing most city dwellers will notice (beyond the super-fresh eggs) is the lack of window coverings. “Throughout the summer, we’re entertained nightly by brilliant sunsets,” says Susan. The pair replaced the small windows that came with the house with new large ones made out of BC cedar. Oh and those eggs? They were just laid by the family’s free-roaming chickens and are the base of Glen’s legendary Hollandaise sauce.

Susan and Glen’s approach to kitchen design is considered and thoughtful. When faced with an existing kitchen that didn’t exude the country feel they desired, they didn’t rip it out and start from scratch, rather used what they loved and enhanced what they didn’t. They refaced some of the cabinets with solid walnut fronts, and added a stainless-steel backsplash, counter and sink (all from IKEA). The blackboard wall is fun and functional. “We keep track of all our B&B bookings here, noting guests’ allergies or diet restrictions and any special info like their birthdays or anniversaries.”

The cozy living room gets a bit of edge thanks to the vibrant artwork, particularly the pink-hair painting. Susan says, “It’s an original painting by artist and musician Jim Cummins. It was painted during the punk scene in Vancouver and it’s come with us everywhere we have lived.” The wood-burning stove from Vermont Castings rotates from side to side to direct heat and features soapstone sides to further radiate warmth.

Susan and Glen carefully chose the home’s exterior materials to blend in with the setting: a neutral-tone rooftop (versus the popular red seen in the county), custom-blended Beautitone green for the siding and natural cedar for the first floor. The beckoning patio, where guests enjoy Glen’s legendary Hollandaise sauce, is also rich with provenance. “It has a Carrara marble surface that was re-purposed from the facade of the Bank of Montreal in Toronto,” says Susan.

Set in the quiet hamlet of Cherry Valley, ten minutes from the town of Picton and the beaches of Sandbanks Provincial Park, Away in the County offers three acres of glorious nature and plenty of spots, like the dock, to take in the view.

“These beautiful buff-coloured chickens are Orpingtons, named after the town of Orpington in Kent, England,” says Susan. “They’re known for being good egg layers and are so affectionate. We let them free range as much as possible.”

This path flanked by grasses and flowers is another example of the many beautiful spots to be found on the property.

This charmingly imperfect structure is a reference to its rural setting, and more. “This old shed came with the property and we converted it into a chicken coop,” says Susan. “It’s insulated inside for the winter and has both an indoor and outdoor fenced run.” Something Betsy and her happy flock appreciate.