City-dwellers who window-shopped for cottages at this spring's Cottage Life Show must have gone home with cricks in their necks after all the double-takes in front of Wayne Wilcox's booth.
"You'd see them walk by, get a few yards and stop, then turn around and say, 'you gotta be kidding,' " Mr. Wilcox grins.
And the salesman for cottage lots on pristine lakes around the mining ghost town of Elliot Lake would say "No, I'm not."
The land really is available for as little as $16,000 for a half-hectare waterfront lot. And the amenities of a small city, including a hospital, cinemas and marinas are just a few minutes' drive away.
With the rate at which properties on the 10 lakes are selling, it's clear that wannabe cottage owners from the Greater Toronto Area feel it's worth the seven-plus-hour drive past Sudbury, half way to Sault Ste. Marie then north to Elliot Lake to escape the urban whirl.
"We're at the stage the Americans were already at 15 years ago -- they have to drive seven or eight hours to their camps [the U.S. term for cottages]" Mr. Wilcox says.
But the distance from cities and jobs means the social world of these cottages will be a tiny bit 1950s suburban.
"It's kind of like Muskoka was 20 years ago, when ladies would take the kids to the cottage for the whole summer and husbands would stay in town," Mr. Wilcox says.
Elliot Lake is perhaps a special case -- the town once built for 45,000 residents is reinventing itself as a low-priced recreation and retirement destination since mine closings cut its permanent population to 13,000.
But Penny Caldwell, editor of Cottage Life magazine, which sponsors the semi-annual cottage consumer show, says it actually isn't necessary to go as far as Elliot Lake to find cheap plots and cottages if you know what you're doing. "Cottage country has a reputation as being high-end and extremely expensive, but if you're willing to go a bit further or fix a place up there are still options," she says.
While every big-name area from the Muskokas to the Kawarthas, from Haliburton to Parry Sound and the Thousand Islands now has its $1-million properties, rustic hideaways can still be found within three hours of Toronto that atre priced in the mid-$100,000s.
Three hours' drive is a psychological dividing line for Toronto cottage-buyers, Ms. Caldwell says. That means Parry Sound to the north and Kingston to the east.
Hardly anyone thinks of going west, but there are charming properties on the sandy beaches of Lake Erie in pastoral countryside rich in history for as little as $100,000.
"It's a different type of cottaging," Ms. Caldwell says. "You don't get the pines and granite you get in the Georgian Bay area, but lots of people love the beaches and agricultural land."
For those whose unshakeable image of a summer retreat is a Tom Thomson painting, it's still possible to find a cottage for $200,000 in the coveted Muskokas and Haliburton -- but you'll have to buy a real fixer-upper or a place with boat access only.
"A great way to get affordable property is to get a boat-only-access place," Ms. Caldwell says.
Cottages in this category are not those on their own island, of course -- those cost far more -- they just happen to be on stretches of shoreline where no road has yet reached.
A 15-minute trip in a cheap aluminum rowboat with outboard motor can be the difference between spending $250,000 and $400,000 on a modest three-bedroom cottage on Georgian Bay, recent listings show. Properties on rivers tend to be less expensive than those on lakes because the boating isn't as good, Ms. Caldwell says.
"And building your own is a great option -- particularly if you can do some of the labour yourself and have lots of time." Or you can take a gradual approach.
"Some people camp on their lot for a while, then build an outhouse as their first building. It gives them time to think about where to place the cottage and dock."
Of course, affordability is relative.
Urbanites who really want a cottage in today's escalating market may have to forgo buying in the city first.
"Some people continue to rent in the city, and buy a cottage instead of a house," Ms. Caldwell says.