in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
February 24, 2025
As an ongoing series in South Grey News, we have asked prominent local folks to share stories of the moments, places and/or people in South Grey that have brightened their lives. What we got is a definitive guide to happiness in our communities.
We are glad to launch the series in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, since love of place — our place, South Grey — deserves a love song of its own.
South Grey News is privileged to publish, as our first article in this series, the warm musings of Kevin Land — playwright, community activist, book store proprietor and resident of Priceville.
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BY JUDY PORTEOUS — I am not from here, but back in high school, a group of friends came “North” camping. Being from fairly flat Southwestern Ontario, I fell in love with the rocks and trees and hills and water! Several more trips over the years, cemented my passion for my now-home. It helped that I fell in love and married a 'sheep farmer' from Grey County, almost 40 years ago. The entire sheep world is another story, but the farm that we initially lived on, had a pool. From an early age, our three kids loved the water and took lessons at our nearby swimming instructor’s indoor pool. Swimming in pools, nearby beaches and conservation areas became our regular summer activities.
Our house was in the back field of the farm, overlooking Georgian Bay. With sheep grazing in the front pasture, it was an idyllic scene. But we eventually had to move.
Fast forward, landing in mid Grey County (Chatsworth Township) on an acreage with mostly wetlands, a few sheep, but no pool.
We live on a beautiful tree lined country road. I have hiked the road thousands of times and have relished watching the road come alive from early spring, throughout the summer, with fading colours of fall. Even the dead of winter offers a myriad of snow covered silhouettes. Meeting our lovely neighbours for an impromptu chat is always a bonus.
Each season, each year never ceases to delight me, with sightings of pussy willows, marsh marigolds, trilliums, pink and yellow orchids, dogwood, cattails, every wildflower you can imagine including the stunning Indian paintbrush, goldenrod, trees with leaves and bark of every description and textures to tease the eye. Wildlife includes deer, fox, coyote, possum, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and I even once spotted a beautiful grouse in the woods. We see many birds spend time or pass by, including cardinals, doves, finches, orioles, hummers, ducks, wild turkeys, captivating sandhill cranes and our resident bald eagles in their enormous nest, weighing down the branches in a nearby woodlot.
We have quite a long frontage and are lucky that the Sydenham River, which begins just southeast of us, winds its way through our land. Turtles, fish, and many critters call it home. Sounds abound, usually starting in the spring with wild geese flying north and the serenade of peepers near the pond. The eerie call of coyote packs at night, while sitting around the campfire watching the constellations, comets and, if we are lucky, the Northern Lights, never fails to disappoint.
Down the road are Grey County managed forests providing a plethora of trails and abandoned building foundations to explore, leaving us to ponder what came before.
Best of all is our swimming pools — I mean swimming holes — well, really they are inland lakes, and we have been swimming in them for years now. We have adopted them as our own. In five to ten minutes, we can be in one or the other. Truly, floating belly up, sun streaming down on a 25-plus day with a balmy breeze, there is no better place in the world. Depending on day and time, we have had the lakes all to ourselves with nary a sound, not a motor to be heard. McCullough and Williams Lakes have modest beaches, more like a back yard access, but when you swim out so the water is deep enough to gently tread water, it takes me anywhere I want to go — and it’s all here in Grey County, just a few short kilometres from home. It’s still a joy on days when we have to share two of our favourite spots! We have pushed the envelope to see how early in the season we can have our first swim and how late in the fall for our last.
Sharing all of this with our family and friends, and especially our three grandchildren, makes these memories even more special.
It just might be a little later this year that we take our first dip. As the snow is piled high around us, I am dreaming of my happy place and look forward to our first outdoor swimming day, right here in our Grey County backyard!
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