When Simon Legault showed his dad Jean-Charles the section of river that runs through the Mansfield-et-Ponterfract property he had just purchased, his dad was blown away by its beauty and knew they had to do something with it. So they decided to build a place for people from the city to find their escape in nature.

Simon explained that he and his father were looking for a piece of land to . . .

enjoy on weekends, and he was told to look in the region. The property that they decided to purchase is over 500 acres with approximately 1.5km of waterfront on the Coulonge River. The company that they purchased the land from had the zoning pre-approved for certain projects.

The idea came to them after buying the property. Legault found that people were looking to escape from towns and cities and there was a lack of available cottages for rent. He noted that for the most part cottage rentals were no longer something that middle-class people could afford. This is when they decided to build cottages from shipping containers, keeping their building costs relatively low and appealing to a clientele that is often underrepresented in the market.

“If we go to Mont Tremblant, renting a cottage is three or four thousand dollars a week, so it’s really expensive,” said Jean-Charles (translated).

Prices range from $199/night to $239/night, with a minimum of two nights. Guests can also rent a cottage for $1,900 for the month. A stay at Adventure Coulonge includes running water, electricity, a charcoal barbeque, space for an outdoor fire, wood for one night and a screened-in outdoor seating area.

Jean-Charles argued that they could have subdivided the land and sold it off to people interested in building their own cottages on the banks of the river, and it was a plan that Jean-Charles and Simon Legault discussed. The pair came to the conclusion that this plan would mean that fewer people would be able to enjoy what the river has to offer and would cut up the shoreline in a way that even they wouldn’t be able to use the land the way that they wanted to.

The business model of Adventure Coulonge allows Jean-Charles and Simon Legault to enjoy their property while also having access to the water. The way they chose to do this was to build small cottages from relatively inexpensive materials, this way more people could afford to stay.

The Legaults decided to buy the land in January 2021, and construction began that April. The first step, according to Simon, was to clear a 3.5 kilometre long entrance from the main road to the water.

By the end of last summer they had two of their cabins installed, with their original goal to have a total of ten available for rent by this year. However, Jean-Charles explained that construction was halted at seven cottages. This was mainly because with the rising costs of supplies, it was far more expensive to build the seventh cottage than the first.

Jean-Charles spoke on the location of Adventure Coulonge by saying that there is something very unique about a place that feels as though you are in the middle of nowhere, with the closest neighbour being 200km down the river, while simultaneously only being 20 minutes from the grocery store.

He said that many of their guests mentioned how the property makes you feel as though you’re at the end of the world.

All information about Adventure Coulonge can be found on their website, aventurecoulonge.ca.

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