Cottage care in Carling

The township around Killbear

Carling wraps the Georgian Bay shoreline northwest of Parry Sound, 244 square kilometres of it, incorporated back in 1897 and home to Killbear Provincial Park. The year-round township is small, 1,491 people at the last census, and six of every ten homes stood empty of year-round residents at that count, strung through Snug Harbour, Dillon near Franklin Island, Snug Haven and Shebeshekong. Sheltered bays, long private roads, and a lot of places nobody sees between Thanksgiving and the May long weekend. That's the case for cottage watch, $99 a visit on the bi-weekly plan with a photo report the same day, and for openings, closings and docks at the shoulders: $399 dock in, $449 out, $749 booked together. Carling is a Zone 2 drive for me, so flat-rate jobs add $50, and you'll have heard it from this page before you call.

After a big wind off the bay, the storm call is $249 with the first hour included, and watch clients get their scheduled storm sweep without calling at all.