234520 Concession 2, West Grey, Ont.

Asking Price: $7,999,000

Taxes: $10,714.00 (2024)

Land Size: 486 acres

Agent: Kevin Gilchrist, Sotheby’s International Realty Canada

The backstory

Toronto residents Peter Griffin and Ann Whalen spent about five years searching for a country retreat north of the city.

The couple looked at many properties during the 1990s, but they had trouble finding one with enough room to provide the privacy they were seeking.

Then Mr. Griffin spotted a tiny newspaper advertisement for a 19th-century stone farmhouse for sale in the rolling hills of Grey County. The property near the small town of Durham, Ont., was farther to the north and west than their original search, but it provided 285 acres of land.

“We solved the room problem,” says Mr. Griffin.

The couple purchased the property in 1999 and learned that the land was settled by the Fletcher family, who arrived from Scotland in the 1860s. The family patterned the compact house after the one they left behind on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides.

The Fletchers went on to accumulate about 300 acres, says Mr. Griffin, and the spread remained in the family until sometime in the early 1900s.

The land was actively farmed until the middle of the century, local records show, when an oil and gas industry executive took over in the 1960s.

The property changed hands once again before Mr. Griffin and Ms. Whalen took possession.

The land had everything they were looking for, says Ms. Whalen, including a quiet setting with woods, wetlands and a hilly terrain.

The home’s position on a rise provides views over a small lake where a resident osprey dives for fish and herons wade in summer.

“It’s a wildlife paradise,” says Mr. Griffin.

The house today

The original farmhouse house was in solid shape when Mr. Griffin and Ms. Whalen purchased it, along with a small timber frame home that had been added to the property in 1997.

The couple decided they would make improvements to both buildings over time.

They started with the newer home by adding two upstairs bedrooms and a timber frame staircase rising to the second floor. They installed a new kitchen and updated the two bathrooms.

Today the winterized dwelling with a board-and-batten exterior serves as a three-bedroom guest house.

It also provided a comfortable place for the couple and their three children to stay while work was under way on the stone dwelling.

For the restoration, Mr. Griffin and Ms. Whalen brought in architect Gren Weis of Oakville, Ont.

“He loved, loved the house,” says Mr. Griffin. “We’ve had a relationship ever since.”

The old building had a very basic kitchen and a terrible heating system, says Mr. Griffin, so those two areas were priorities for the couple.

Mr. Weis designed a larger space for a new kitchen, which includes an 11-foot island, a six-burner cooktop, double wall ovens and a pantry.

“It’s a hard-working kitchen with a big island,” says Ms. Whalen. She and Mr. Griffin both cook, and many of the family’s visitors also spend time preparing dishes in the kitchen.

There’s also a covered front porch, mudroom, powder room and laundry room with a dog shower on the main level.

The architect kept ceiling heights lower in those areas to emphasize the feeling of height in the vaulted and beamed ceiling of the great room, Ms. Whalen explains.

That gathering space also has a Rumford fireplace with a timber mantle and glass doors opening to a sunroom.

Over time, the couple added a gazebo-style living room and dining room with panoramic views at each end of the house, both designed by Mr. Weis.

There’s also a den with another Rumford fireplace, a television room and a pool house.

Upstairs the house has four bedrooms with original wide plank floors.

“The floors all slant,” Ms. Whalen says of the pine and hemlock planks in the original portion of the house. Floors in many of the rooms and walkways added later are of Wiarton flagstone.

Today, the original house and the addition have efficient geothermal heating and cooling systems.

Expanding the house required additional stone walls, the couple says, so a local stone mason reclaimed stone rubble from the foundation of the barn that once stood on the property.

Throughout the interior, Mr. Weis exposed old stone walls in places. The couple learned that one of the sons in the Fletcher family became a carpenter, and they were able to acquire pieces from the previous owners.

“There’s still furniture that he built out of bird’s eye maple,” says Ms. Whalen.

The old barn had been taken down by a previous owner, but the couple saved as much as they could of the foundation and had the walls partially rebuilt. Ms. Whalen planted Baltic ivy and lined the interior of the relic with more than 100 Russian sage plants.

As their kids jumped into more activities, the couple added a tennis court and a swimming pool surrounded by a stone terrace. There’s also a circular stone fire pit and four raised stone vegetable beds. Native and perennial flowers surround the houses and patios.

The couple also took care to preserve the mature linden and poplar trees, along with an ancient apple tree outside the living room gazebo.

“We’re keen on things like old apple trees,” says Mr. Griffin.

The couple’s care of the land, including wetland and forest conservation, provides tax breaks. A local farmer also grows hay on about 80 acres.

“It’s a beautiful time of year in the summer when they roll up the big bales,” says Mr. Griffin.

After about 10 years of the family’s tenure, sandhill cranes started showing up on the property.

“They are magnificent,” says Mr. Griffin. “They march around the hills and yell at us if we get too close.”

The best feature

The family started with a large expanse of land, but they added to that over time to ensure that their views and privacy were not disturbed.

In 2005, they purchased another 100 acres to the south and in 2015, 103 additional acres to the north.

“We bought the north 100 to protect the water,” Mr. Griffin says of the osprey’s home.

Family members snowshoe and cross-country ski in the winter, and head out on the trails in other months.

“With that amount of space, it’s easy to go for a nice, long walk,” Mr. Griffin says.

There’s also a toboggan run through a stand of cedar trees with lights running the full length. It’s fun to take guests out at about 10 o’clock on a winter’s night to careen down the hill, says Mr. Griffin.

When the humans are not frolicking in the landscape, the wildlife takes a turn.

“We have a family of otters that slides on their little bellies on the snow.”