Pavilion is a personal restaurant at the cottage

MUSKOKA SUN — When you’re at the cottage you just want to relax.
Having to deal with the hassle of cooking food and cleaning up after numerous cottage guests can take away from the serenity one is looking for when spending time in Muskoka. To deal with this issue, one owner on a small lake in west Muskoka has taken food preparation out of the cottage kitchen and moved it to its very own food pavilion.
The food pavilion, or dining facility, is part of a multi-building cottage compound. The pavilion allows the cottage owner to host meals for at least 80 people, although a recent gathering at the pavilion comfortably hosted roughly 100.
Grant Watkinson, owner of Shorline Construction Ltd., which built the pavilion over the winter months, said the 4,500 square feet (400 square metre) building helps the cottage owner’s guests relax.
“When his family comes up he wants them to just have fun. They’re not up here to say, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go cook again.’ They always have a lot of guests here and this is a full kitchen that’s better than any restaurant in Muskoka,” said Watkinson.
The kitchen is filled with state-of-the-art cooking equipment, including a $40,000 oven that allows a full dinner to be cooked for up to 50 people in just seven minutes. In addition to the main dining area and kitchen, the pavilion has a two-way fireplace and a sitting area with a comfy couch and big screen TV.
The pavilion overlooks a beaver pond and provides a stunning view of classic Muskokan landscape. The pond is teeming with wildlife – just looking over the edge of the patio you can see fish and tadpoles swimming about.
“It’s got this really nice setting here,” Watkinson said. “The wildlife you see is unbelievable. We’ve seen bears crossing over there. We’ve seen deer and turkeys. You just see a whole bunch of stuff back here. It’s especially nice in the fall, if you can imagine all the hardwoods back there with the leaves changing.”
To take full advantage of the view, the building has an outside wraparound deck well appointed with patio furniture.
On the bottom level of the pavilion are the residences for the onsite staff as well as an area to gather on a rainy day. There’s a sizable recreation room, theatre and workout area.
In every way the pavilion is an impressive piece of Muskokan construction. It provides significant modern comforts and luxury while still seamlessly nestling into the rugged Muskokan landscape.

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