HUNTSVILLE - It’s a small world after all.
And one thing really does lead to another.
When Piet (pronounced Pete) Schat visited a physiotherapist in Holland, he had no idea it would lead him to eventually move his family to Canada.
Piet is a baker. At the time, he was running his large family owned bakery with his father and brother.
The bakery was started by Piet’s grandfather around 1930 and the family built it up to a major operation. They serviced 160 grocery stores: Holland’s answer to Price Choppers. They had 80 employees baking 24 hours a day, six days a week.
“It gave me a lot of headaches,” said Piet.
Those headaches may have been what led him to the physiotherapist’s office. He and his physiotherapist got to talking and it turned out her brother was also a baker, who had emigrated to Canada – our own Tjeed Wouda of Windmill Bakery.
One thing led to another and Piet and his family visited Tjeed in Huntsville.
“We fell in love with the area,” said Piet.
They also fell in love with a house in Hidden Valley. They bought the house with its stunning view of the ski hill and the lake just beyond as an investment property in May 2006.
Life in Holland was good. They would go to Switzerland and Austria to ski. Summers were spent playing in the deep blue waters of Spain.
But the lure of Muskoka’s beauty called to them. Land in Europe is at a much greater premium than it is here and the family would never have been able to afford to live in the kind of home it had purchased in Huntsville.
So, despite the major challenges of moving four children to a new country, away from friends and extended family, the Schats crossed the pond once more – this time to stay.
They moved into the house by the hill in August 2008.
“You only live once,” said Piet, and he couldn’t resist the charms of the valley and the esthetic beauty of Muskoka’s four seasons.
“Every morning when I wake up, I feel very fortunate,” he said. “We’re very happy here. It’s a nice place to live – a nice community.”
Wife Jolanda worked as a nurse in Holland, but is yet to be able to practise here in Canada.
They have four children; the eldest is 26 and also named Piet. The younger Piet fell in love with a girl in Holland just six months before the family’s move. Love so ardent and young could not be denied and he has rejoined his fair lady.
“Better happy in Holland than unhappy here,” said the resigned elder Piet.
The second son, AJ, is 23, and studying tool and die making in Barrie. Eric is 17 and in his last year at Huntsville High School.
Their youngest child, 13-year-old Carolyn loves her new home and enjoys sports and friends at Irwin Public.
“When we’re talking English as her parents, she corrects us,” said Piet proudly.
Moving to a country where the language is not native to you can be a real challenge. Fortunately in Holland they are taught English, German and French as well as Dutch in school. The family’s language skills reflect that early training.
Piet sold the family bakery and has no desire to run an operation that large again.
He is however, a baker at heart and at hand and would like to do something smaller and more artisanal in his new home.
He is currently enrolled in the Men in Business program, run by the YWCA, learning the skills needed to open a small business in his new home.
A large Canadian flag flies in front of the Schat home to honour their adopted country and celebrate the happy life they have found here. “I’m not sure if that’s how you should put it, but let’s say this is the Canadian dream,” said Piet.
Thanks to Mieke Byl for suggesting that Piet Schat be profiled.