Timber pavilion with stone columns reflected in a large concrete pool at dusk

Flamborough, 2015–2018

Escape Plan

The cottage, brought home: a 25-by-50-foot concrete pool, a timber pavilion and a pool cabana, 200 feet from the house on an open field in rural Flamborough.

The problem

They wanted a cottage. With a houseful of young kids and a career that doesn’t keep regular hours, a weekend drive north wasn’t going to happen, so the cottage had to come to them.

When we started, there was nothing there: a gentle slope and an open field, sitting on the path farm runoff takes after a storm.

The decision

Before anything could be built, the water needed somewhere to go, so a drainage culvert now runs underneath the entire pavilion. Then we built it not to move. The pavilion and pool cabana sit on helical piles and an engineered, frost-protected slab, so the timber posts stand directly on the concrete. Twenty years from now, nothing should have shifted.

At a glance

Location: Rural Flamborough
Built: 2015–2018, in phases
Pool: 25-by-50-foot concrete, PebbleTec finish, arcing water jets
Foundations: Helical piles and an engineered, frost-protected slab
Drainage: Culvert under the full length of the pavilion
Structures: Timber-frame pavilion with outdoor kitchen and pizza oven; pool cabana; arbour walk
Where we work: Landscaping in Flamborough
Guide: Arbour, pergola, pavilion or cabana?
Services: Design-build, Pools, Pavilions and structures, Planting and lighting, Permits and engineering

Before and after

Open lawn and bare apple trees in early spring, before construction — The orchard, spring 2015 and summer 2016.

The same apple trees in leaf, with a new planting bed and a timber-framed pool building behind the black pool fence — The orchard, spring 2015 and summer 2016.

Open lawn with an old fire pit ring and a line of spruce, before construction — The fire pit corner, a year and a half later.

The fire pit with Adirondack chairs, new planting beds and a timber arbour leading to the pool — The fire pit corner, a year and a half later.

The build

A timber arbour path leads about 200 feet from the house to a stone-and-cedar pavilion with an outdoor kitchen, bar and wood-fired pizza oven, beside a 25-by-50-foot concrete pool finished in PebbleTec, with water jets arcing into it. We finished the pool under a heated dome in December 2015. A pool cabana with change room and washroom followed, with its own timber pergola beside it.