About Wake-Robin Farm

Located in the heart of the Ottawa Valley, Wake-Robin Farm is nestled in the 'foothills' of the Green Mountains, about an hour and a half north west of Ottawa, between Douglas, Dacre and not far from Mount St. Patrick -- all good Irish villages. This area was settled mainly by Scots and the Irish in the early 1800's, although the first Polish settlement in North America is found about a half hour away at Wilno. The forests are dense, the ground rocky, the basement of our house is riven by a slab of granite, part of the Canadian shield. It's three feet to bedrock. Not the most hospitable environment for the pioneers.

We chose our farm for its location - and most important for us, its isolation. We are a long way from busy roads, surrounded by maple and oak forest, on nearly ten miles of dirt road, with only three year-round neighbours in any direction - the closest 2 miles distant. There is a network of narrow sandy roads which stretch in all directions and are wonderful to drive on in all seasons, with minimal traffic. The main road is well plowed in winter, but there are days when no cars come through at all. In summer, you have lots of time to prepare for any traffic coming toward you . In the winter, you can often hit the road in a sleigh before the plow comes down and you step back into a more tranquil age.

In all seasons, the woods are full of wildlife -- the trees busy with a wide variety of birds who compete with the red squirrels and chipmunks for food at our feeders. We often see deer in the pasture, the occasional bear in the garden and on a still night, we hear the brush wolves running in the ravine by the water meadow. In the winter, when there's a full moon, and the reflection from the snow makes it as bright as day, we sometimes hear the timber wolves. Absolutely primal and wonderful. So far, I haven't met a bear while out driving on the road, but I console myself that the horses must see and smell them often, at night, and that they would in some ways be prepared for the encounter. I attach bells to the harness in berry season, just in case … !

We purchased the property in 1985 -- a small hand crafted log house on the side of a hill in a small clearing, deep in the woods. In 1994, we started major renovations, doubling the size of the house and adding the barn .. a 18 by 32 ft log structure moved log-by-log from Killaloe, Ontario, 2 hours away. Since then we've added a second well, a drive shed and three paddocks. This fall, we will start work on a large heated tack room which will double as a show room for the harness and other driving equipment we are importing from Norway. Michel has spent nearly a year building a stone wall, 5 feet high and about 2 feet wide, abutting the front paddock as a hillside nursery for mares and foals. There is a second house -- a small cottage -- on the property that we hope to develop into a guest house. The main house is always open to friends - new and old, especially those who come to see our beautiful Fjord mares and their offspring.