The listing: 3554 Concession 3, Creemore, Ont.
Asking Price: $6,690,000
Taxes: $11,664.72 (2026)
Land Size: 57 acres
Agents: Rob McAleer and Jeff McAleer (Chestnut Park Real Estate)
The backstory
In 1978, Gordon and Patricia Cunningham traded their lakefront cottage for a heritage farm in the Ontario countryside.
At the time, Mr. Cunningham was rousing the family early on winter mornings for the drive from Toronto to the ski hills carved into the Niagara Escarpment near Georgian Bay.
The couple decided to look for a year-round retreat close to the slopes.
Before long they found a rundown Victorian farmhouse on 57 acres of land just outside the historic village of Creemore, Ont.
The farm at the base of the escarpment had been founded by pioneer settlers John and Margaret Lott, who built the red brick house in 1895 and lived on the property until 1920.
Ownership passed to another family until 1965, local records show, when the land was sold to a small group of local investors who had the notion of turning the steep vertical drop into another ski hill.
The owners rented out the farmhouse while they worked on the scheme for a decade or so, then gave up and listed the property for sale.
The home was in rough shape when the Cunninghams took over.
“The bathtub they put in the main bathroom was hanging down into the hall,” recalls Mr. Cunningham. “You had to duck to go up the stairs.”
Still, the building was solid, clad in triple brick on the first storey and double brick on the second.
“The bones of the place were terrific,” says Mr. Cunningham.
The Cunninghams spent hours stripping layers of paint from the elaborate banister of the Victorian-era staircase.Sebastian Petrescu/Sebastian Petrescu/Elevated Photos
The house today
The couple found the help they needed to make the house habitable when they hired a local family with seven brothers, Mr. Cunningham recalls with a chuckle.
The brothers cleared out the detritus and hauled away 75 garbage bags filled with sawdust from sanding the original pine and oak floors.
“We were left with these gorgeous old pine floors,” he says.
The Cunninghams spent many hours stripping layers of paint from the wood mouldings around the windows and the elaborate banister of the Victorian-era staircase.
The extended family pitched in as the couple worked on the restoration while raising their three young children.
The broadcast reception in that era relied on metal ‘rabbit ears’ antenna which sat on top of the television. During one visit, Mr. Cunningham’s parents joined the family in the upstairs hall to watch one of the three channels they could pick up.
“We were crowded around this tiny little TV watching Hockey Night in Canada with rabbit ears,” he says. “That’s one of my favourite memories.”
For Mr. Cunningham, work on the farm provided a haven from a demanding career on Bay Street.
The lengthy slope that didn’t make it as a ski resort became a toboggan run for the family.
Gordon Cunningham had trees planted on the property as part of a provincial forestry program.Sebastian Petrescu/Sebastian Petrescu/Elevated Photos
With the aid of a provincial forestry program, Mr. Cunningham had about 90,000 white pine, red pine and cedar trees planted. He added 900 black walnut saplings to replace the trees that were harvested in the 1920s for furniture making.
After a time, the couple decided to expand the house with a two-storey addition that provided a living room with two bedrooms and a bathroom above.
In the mid-2000s, they added a sunroom overlooking the grounds and a large kitchen with a centre island, built-in appliances and a brick fireplace.
The renovation also created a main floor primary suite.
Outside they rebuilt a wraparound porch that had been removed and added gingerbread trim in keeping with the original.
All of the expansion took place at the rear, Mr. Cunningham adds, so the appearance of the home remains unchanged on approach from the rural side road.
“We wanted the farm to continue looking like it did when it was first built.”
Today the house has six bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two powder rooms in 4,836 square feet of living space.
The lower level, with 1,385 square feet, includes a recreation room, wet bar, wine cellar and home theatre.
Fairview Farm, as the property is known, has two spring-fed ponds, an antique apple orchard, perennial gardens, raised vegetable beds and a landscape of rolling lawns and glacial boulders.
The Cunninghams’ three kids grew up fishing and kayaking in the summer and playing hockey on the frozen pond in winter. Three family weddings took place on the farm.
The couple’s daughters – and now some of their seven grandchildren – earned instructor’s badges at Devil’s Glen Country Club, where they still teach today. The family also spent lots of time on the 18-hole course at the Mad River Golf Club.
Over the years, the tiny hamlet of Creemore has become a thriving town, with a well-known brewery, a farmer’s market and lots of shops and restaurants, Mr. Cunningham says.
Mr. Cunningham planted grape vines. In a good year, the farm produces more than 1,000 bottles of wine.Sebastian Petrescu/Sebastian Petrescu/Elevated Photos
The best feature
After his semi-retirement in 2006, Mr. Cunningham was looking for a new pursuit.
He began a deep dive into viniculture before planting grape vines and setting up a barrel room in the circa 1899 barn and adjacent drive shed.
In a good year, the farm produces more than 1,000 bottles, including a single-vineyard Marechal Foch red, a blended white and a rosé, says Mr. Cunningham.
Harvesting the grapes in autumn became an annual event for family and friends.
“We had everyone from our 95-year-old grandmother to our three-year-old grandson in the vineyards, picking.”