Posted at 12:00 p.m.
At first, we thought we were on the wrong track. Our GPS insisted on taking us to an industrial park along Highway 15, near the Gédéon-Ouimet bridge. Not towards the bucolic Laval paradise we were hoping for. Just as we were ranting about the technology, we saw the wooden arch pointing us in the right direction. In no time, we were somewhere else.
The domain of Michel Lavoie and Guylaine Chaumont is immense. Nearly half a million square feet (11 acres) along the Rivière des Mille Îles. “We have almost 850 feet of waterfront,” explains Michel, a happy 50-year-old who, with his wife, has lived there since 1993.
The place is perfectly rural and so remote (while being a stone’s throw from the highway) that one wonders how the couple could find it. Michel grew up in this sector. His parents, his grandparents, his great-grandparents were farmers from Fabreville. “I have spent my whole life here, my family is completely rooted in Fabrevillois soil. So much so that the couple’s house once belonged to his great-great-grandfather Ferdinand Lavoie. “It has passed from hand to hand for over 100 years. There was even a religious community that used it as a summer residence. »
On the other side of the land are two of the islands that form part of the Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles wildlife refuge. “We have no neighbours, and this territory will not be developed”. Indeed, this year, Ville de Laval added 432 municipal lots of islands, shores and wetlands to the protected park for a total of 568 hectares. The land adjacent to that of the couple is part of it. “A park like this is unique in an urban environment,” agrees the couple.
The acquisition of the estate was done in small steps.
First, we bought the first house, then the land next door, then the other, then the other… Finally, we became owners of everything you see!
Michael Lavoie
On this space are the first house, now that of one of their daughters, a three-season chalet, a sugar shack, a greenhouse, a chicken coop, a large garage and other buildings used for family activities. And then there is the orchard. “It’s for U-pick, we love having people over. »
The family home sits at the end of the land. It has undergone significant transformations and expansions over time and appears to have been built recently. In 2010, Michel and Guylaine embarked on major works. Everything has been there, from floor to ceiling: kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, basement, terrace, etc. “It was Michel who did everything,” says Guylaine, who thinks her man should take a little rest. The main interested party, on the other hand, is reminiscent of a pot that is bubbling with its head full of projects. During the confinement, to add to it, he took the opportunity to tinker with a pretty greenhouse and a pizza oven. “There’s not a foot I haven’t touched. »
The floor is particularly impressive with its cathedral ceiling in herringbone and wooden slats executed piece by piece by Michel. Its volume contrasts with the low-ceilinged dormitory that overlooked the bedrooms before. The large, comfortable kitchen is always ready to welcome families with their three children. Moreover, the universe of this couple revolves around the family. This is how Michel and Guylaine’s next project will engage everyone around them. “We would like to buy a farm together, so that our world can participate. “A beautiful dream which, hopefully, will come true.
The property in brief
Asking price: $3,498,000
Year of construction: 1928, renovated in 2010
11 rooms: including three bedrooms, a bathroom, a shower room. Two fireplaces, two secondary houses, a garage, a sugar shack, a chicken coop, a covered terrace, a spa, an inground pool.
Land area: 472,261 sq.ft.2850 ft frontage on the waterfront
Municipal assessment: $495,633
Property tax: $3816.52
School tax: $431.19
Broker: Nadia Maltais, Sotheby’s International Realty Quebec