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With the trend for micro-cruises growing, a fishing trawler has been customised to offer winter wildlife adventures along the snowy Scottish coast

Porpoise everywhere at first light. Porpoise to the bow and stern. Porpoise off the coast of Raasay and the whaleback Crowlin islands. Porpoise hidden from passengers driving over the Skye bridge, but clearly visible from the shelter deck of our vessel as we slide out north towards Loch Torridon. Before long, a pod surrounds the boat, sickle fins glinting white in the winter sun. A little way ahead, near the shores of Applecross, two cormorants dance across the ice-cold sea.

The cormorants are appropriate. I’m on board the hardy Nova Spero, a teal-blue, low-impact vessel operated by new adventure cruise operator Skarv Lines – skarv being Gaelic and Old Norse for these black seabirds. But unlike cormorants, which are known for their guttural grunts, the eco-friendly boat can operate almost silently, powered by a battery to reduce carbon emissions and noise pollution on sea lochs and canals.

You might glimpse the White Lady or the Hound of Dracula in these beautiful cemeteries across the country – what better way to spend Halloween?

Arguably the finest Halloween graveyard of them all lies atop a flight of 199 stone stairs, up which the dreadful hound of Dracula was sent bounding by Bram Stoker. Sadly most of the tawny-coloured tombstones have been licked illegible by the wind, but a few remain. Most visitors seek out the Huntrodd memorial, dedicated to a couple who were both born on 19 September 1600 and both died on the same day 80 years later. If visited at optimum times – during a screeching storm – you will need to see the headstone of William Storr, who died in the 1861 lifeboat disaster. It was, of course, the wreck of a Russian freighter on the rocks below St Mary’s, witnessed by Stoker, that inspired the classic scenes in chapters six and seven of Dracula. Best read by candlelight with your back against a tombstone.

Whether it’s a yurt-stay or a cabin in the woods, we want your tips for a wild winter stay – the best wins £200 towards a Sawday’s stay

Winter might be around the corner – but that doesn’t mean hiding away inside. We want to know about your favourite places to stay for an outdoorsy winter break in the UK. Perhaps it’s a campsite that stays open year-round, a remote cabin with wild walks on the doorstep or a mountain bothy for wilderness exploration. Tell us where you love and why for your chance to win.

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition.

There are many reasons people choose to buy one house over another. Location, proximity to schools, architectural design, land value – and the list goes on.

Potential is another reason but I've never really seen a house being sold for $16 million almost entirely for its potential. 

The current house at 36 High Point Road. 

Located in the prestigious Bridle Path neighbourhood, 36 High Point Road is a five-bedroom, seven-bathroom house that's sitting on two-acres of land. 

The lot is 273.33 by 375 feet. 

Location and property size wise you can't get much better than this but the home itself is nothing to write home about. It certainly isn't worth the $16,000,000 it's being listed at. 

An aerial shot of 36 High point Road. 

There are no interior shots but from a previous listing the bungalow looks very dated and not worth salvaging... or at least that's how it's being sold. 

One of the architect's renderings of the dream estate. 

"Build your dream estate on this exclusive property," reads the listing noting that the home comes with three sets of architectural plans from some of the top firms in the country: Audax, Memar Architects and Richard Wengle.

Audax's renderings of architectural plans for the property. 

Each of the plans feature luxurious and over-the-top elements such as a glass fish tank cylinder with skylight, a climbing wall, an indoor swimming pool, a principal room with it's own Japanese garden and oh so much more. 

Another architectural rendering. 

But what I can't wrap my head around is the fact that this "dream estate" is still a figment of the imagination at this point.

A view of the backyard. 

Just to own the land to build said dream estate costs $16 million (which is actually more than it was first listed for in 2019) and then you need to spend an outrageous sum of money to have the dream home...  

But then again money probably isn't an object for the person who is going to purchase this and Bridle Path homes are known to cost up to $45 million... so in that context $16 million is a bargain.  

When lockdown started, a Toronto couple quickly realized their downtown condo wasn't going to cut it and they decided to give up city life and head to the country.

In March of 2020, Dan Porter and Chelsea Bernas were suddenly forced to work from home in a small one-bedroom plus den at Spadina and Bremner Boulevard.

"We're both working tech jobs in our 500 square foot condo. And internet wasn't supporting both of us," Porter says.

They both had connections in cottage country north of Toronto — Bernas has family in the Sunridge area and Porter had a family cottage in Port Carling. So they decided to head up north for a break in April of 2020.

Dan Porter and Chelsea Bernas used to live on the 47th floor of a Toronto condo building.

Then Bernas learned that her grandmother's farmhouse, an eight-acre property in Sunridge, was vacant so they decided to give up their rental condo and make a permanent move. Porter and Bernas are among many Toronto residents who have ditched city life for something more affordable.

"So 500 square feet and the 47th floor versus so much space, it was kind of like a no brainer for us. We jumped at it," Porter says.

Homeownership in this small community, about a three-hour drive north of Toronto, is much more affordable.

"Your down payment in Toronto is equal to buying a house in a property here," says Porter.

The benefits — clean air, less traffic and noise — are, for now, outweighing some of the drawbacks.

"Just being able to go down to the beach or on your lunch break or just go for a walk is really nice. The traffic or horns or anything like that," says Bernas.

Porter says he doesn't miss busy subway trains and commutes.

But they do both miss the convenience and wide variety of food in Toronto.

"On a cold day ordering some Uber Eats and getting some ramen right to the front door or dumplings…so I mean, any of these places, you know, we have to travel a significant amount more for it," says Porter.

In particular, they miss places like BarChef, Juicy Dumpling, Atoi, lunches on King Street and heading out to a Raptors game.

Life on the farm is quiet and the air is clean.

Bernas admits that the internet can be an issue but is still managing to work from home in her tech job.

"The quality of the internet —not great. I can make my calls and be on Zoom and all that but nobody else can be on the internet," says Bernas, adding that there are upgrades hopefully coming soon to the area.

Porter decided to focus his energy on the farm after noticing an abundance of chaga mushrooms on the property. He has started a mushroom tea company, Muskoka Mudita.

The couple misses their friends in the city. But recently Porter started a Facebook group, Started From the City, Now We Here, as a way to connect and help people who made the move north. The page blossomed quickly, growing from zero to nearly 500 members in just a few days.

"It seems to really resonate with a lot of people deeply which has been so rewarding and we've connected with it ton of people already through it," Porter says.

Porter has done some farming and started mushroom tea company.

Having survived one winter on the farm, Porter and Bernas realized there was advice they could give to new people — such as hiring someone to plough the long driveways on rural properties and getting your furnace checked.

The farmhouse they moved into hadn't been occupied for a few years so they didn't realize the filter needed changing. It was a cold first few weeks of winter.

"That was a huge eyeopener for us," says Bernas.

There are also many power outages in the area so they discovered the need for a generator pretty quickly.

"The biggest thing is that, you know, the modern conveniences that we got very accustomed to aren't here and it really puts you in more of a proactive mindset," Porter says.

But they have discovered a welcoming community that has helped them figure things out. They also quickly got involved with volunteering to meet people in the area.

For those considering a move out of the city, Porter and Bernas say go for it.

"I definitely recommend it," says Bernas. "There's some preparation that you have to get used to but it's well worth it."

"If you're looking to really wake up feel refreshed and have that peace of mind, 100 per cent, I recommend it because truly it made our lives better," adds Porter.

A donut shop that used to be one of Toronto's most popular is no more, but a new and different kind of donuts already appear to be taking their place.

Von Doughnuts may have been known for their gourmet take on the sweet treat, but it looks like Vlad Bakery that's opened in the same spot is doing Polish food that includes paczki (Polish doughnuts).

Apparently the Von sign is still up on the storefront. The last social media posts from Von are from May of this year.

A sign outside indicates they should also have cookies, tarts, cheesecake, bread, cannoli, pie and birthday cakes, as well as hot items like pierogies, potato pancakes, meatballs, cabbage rolls and stuffed peppers.

"Cabbage rolls? Potato pancakes? Perogies? I have died and gone to heaven," someone commented on a post about the new arrival in a local Facebook group.

"I went in last week specifically for a Von Donut and instead picked up a couple of delicious plum and custard paczki," someone else commented. "I will be back for some of the hot food. The cabbage rolls looked amazing."

"My husband will be stoked," another person commented. "This is what he grew up eating."

At least for now, the Vlad appears to be very low tech, with little internet presence. blogTO was unable to reach Vlad for comment by phone. 

Many looking for a condo in Toronto already have their hearts set on a specific neighbourhood, and just won't settle for anything less.

Whether upgrading to a new hood or downsizing in an area one has roots in, condos are as expensive as ever in the 416, averaging at about $760,000 citywide.

And if an average price per square foot (psf) of $887 wasn't enough to break the bank, that doesn't even factor in the sometimes crazy maintenance fees that can add a heavy monthly price tag to any condo purchase.

So, let's say you've got the neighbourhood picked, and maybe even a unit too, but after factoring in the maintenance fees, most of the options are just out of reach.

We've got you covered with a list of some of Toronto's best value condo properties ranked by both their price psf and maintenance fees, as calculated by Strata.

1-82 Hargrave Lane & 2102-2166 Bayview Ave.

Located in the Lawrence Park area of midtown, this townhouse condo building has units averaging at $736 psf against the neighbourhood average of $951, a pretty staggering savings that only increases when you look at the maintenance fees. At just 25 cents psf, residents here pay 47 psf lower than the area normal of 72 cents psf.

1-82 Hargrave Lane & 2102-2166 Bayview Ave. Photo via Strata.ca.

42-60 Curzon St.

Midtown not for you? Well, those drawn to the east side can save a pretty penny in this block of contemporary condo townhomes in the Leslieville-South Riverdale neighbourhood. Units here are going for $704 psf versus the neighbourhood average of $982, and the maintenance fees are super low: just 27 cents compared to 63 cents area-wide.

42-60 Curzon St. Photo via Strata.ca.

97-101 The Queensway

For the "west is best" crowd, the High Park-Swansea area is home to this value-priced townhome block, where units are going for just $672 psf  — almost $200 psf cheaper than the neighbourhood average of $861. Maintenance fees are also a fraction of the area average, at 23 cents psf versus the area-wide norm of 80 cents psf.

97-101 The Queensway. Photo via Strata.ca.

11 Everson Dr.

North York's bustling city centre is known more for its high-rise condo towers, but the Willowdale area is also home to plenty of townhome developments.

Everson Drive is almost entirely lined by townhomes, with one specific block offering units priced at $657 psf, versus neighbourhood averages of $826. The maintenance fees are also low, going at 26 cents psf compared to 68 cents area-wide.

11 Everson Dr. Photo via Strata.ca.

1-121 Mondeo Dr.

Suburban areas like Scarborough's Dorset Park neighbourhood offer much lower prices than the city average, and at $492 psf, units in this cookie-cutter townhome block are a good deal cheaper than the average neighbourhood price of $540 psf.

You'd only have to pay just over a third of the area's average maintenance fees, which are 22 cents psf compared to the average of 60 cents.

1-121 Mondeo Dr. Photo via Strata.ca.

If there's one common theme shared among all of these properties, it's that townhomes offer some of the best value in Toronto's bloated housing market, but they also provide much less in the way of services and amenities.

"The bottom line with maintenance fees is that you usually get what you pay for," says Strata.ca agent, Taryn Mooradian, underlining that "there's no elevator, swimming pool or concierge service to maintain."

While competition grows ever fiercer and prices swell to new highs for those seeking a tiny a slice of Toronto's limited housing supply, vacant homes remain a huge problem in the city, with Canada now home to one of the highest levels of empty units in the world.

New data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that there are more than 1.3 million livable homes currently sitting empty in Canada — about six years of supply, or a whopping 1 in 12 residential properties — thanks to wealthy investors buying up real estate and sitting on it for future profit.

Toronto, just named the second most at-risk city in the world for a housing bubble with an average home price of well over $1 million not just in the city proper but in the whole area, is finally implementing a vacant home tax to curb the trend of investor hoarding starting in 2022.

The hope is that the move helps increase supply and thus bring down prices into a more realistic range.

Toronto was just ranked the second-biggest housing bubble in the world https://t.co/gdX0tg6Wll #Toronto #TorontoRealEstate #RealEstate

— blogTO (@blogTO) October 14, 2021

But, for multimillionaires, the tax of a measley one per cent of property value may not be as much of an effector of change as the city hopes.

Still, early data did show that a large chunk of investors were indeed planning on selling in light of the tax, just like a whole slew of them scrambled to ditch their condos amid the low rents, new short-term rental rules and rising vacancy rates we saw earlier in the pandemic.

As it stands now, investors who own multiple properties in the city are still dominating the market: nearly 30 per cent of homes that switched hands in 2021 were purchased by buyers who already owned more than one home.

Canada is in the top five for number of vacant homes. Chart from Better Dwelling using OECD data.

Increasingly, these appear to be boomers who are gifting properties to their adult kids to help them get a foot in the door of the city's hot real estate market, which is ever more out of reach for progressively more people, even those in high income brackets.

Also, more than 1 in 20 new condos are purchased by foreign buyers, who own tens of billions of dollars of the city's housing supply and are heavy players in the luxury market.

And then there are the corporate entities, who hold about $28.5 billion of the city's mortgages.

People now need a household income of nearly $200,000 a year to afford to pay off an average detached house in Toronto, and would need to save up for nearly 30 years to afford the down payment.

Hmmm...if only there were a way to solve the issue of a vacant home, like, some sort of way of allowing people to afford one, perhaps

— Lauchlin Yurchuk (@LauchlinYurchuk) October 19, 2021

As the real estate experts at Better Dwelling note in their analysis, "Canada also has notoriously low property tax rates and cheap money... the combination is like asking you to hold homes vacant. It's a country with sub one per cent property taxes, a central bank pushing mortgages below two per cent, and four per cent inflation. You would have to be an idiot not to hold vacant property with this setup."

They also note that, though there are foreign buyer taxes here to help prevent wealthy overseas investors from taking away valuable and much-needed housing supply, they are "mostly just a PR tool to dismiss the issue" — though some don't feel the problem is the main one in the sector, or as big of one as politicians say.

Shooting airguns and drinking is certainly one way to blow off steam after many long and stressful months, and a new place is opening in Vaughan where you can do both.

Longshots shooting range and lounge just opened up on Oct. 28 at 41 Gaudaur Rd., imitating a regular shooting range style with paper targets and realistic replicas of actual firearms. The age limit to participate is eight years old.

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The space is unexpectedly filled with art, with selfie moments like a group of sexy mannequins holding guns that you can pose with.

Grab-and-go cuisine from an evolving menu won't be dissimilar to the food at a restaurant the Longshots owner previously operated. Their liquor license also permits them to sell beer and wine.

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"I had been trying to decide what my next trick was going to be after the restaurant's spectacular failure," Nikki Hall, who formerly ran Koek Koek, tells blogTO.

She decided on something that would be like the axe throwing craze, but different, and actually started working on the concept about three years ago.

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"We have weathered a pandemic, location changes, legal issues, insurance issues, taste testing, robotics engineering, prototype trials and much construction. Three years later and we've finally done it," says Hall.

No reservations are required for the first come, first serve experience, and $10 gets you 30 rounds with a rifle or pistol. Those who are a minimum age of 25 years can try their hand at an air javelin with 10 rounds for $20.

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"We custom drew shooting targets that were fun and would be proprietary to our company, including things like The Donald," says Hall. 

"The response so far has been overwhelming. The goal is to open multiple locations and establish ourselves as the dominant player in this entertainment space."

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There are shooting packages like The 007 for $49.99 which includes 30 minutes of exclusive range lane use for three shooters with unlimited rounds for rifles or pistols, plus three of the "premium" targets, or The Rambo for $99 with 60 minutes of range lane use, unlimited rounds and six premium targets.

All pricing for rentals includes pellets, ammunition, CO2, and eye protection.

"We are also taking bookings for bachelorette and bachelor parties, divorce parties especially, corporate events, family outings and holiday parties," says Hall.

"To the best of my knowledge, the space was a never opened VR place."

Pull up the drawbridge for a stunning fortified stay in one of these historic boltholes

At first glance, Bovey looks too swanky to be properly family-friendly, but behind the imposing facade it is as welcoming to children as adults. There’s an excellent kids’ club, the chance for them to meet chickens and ferrets on the estate farm, or try their hand at archery, croquet or just roam the 275-acre estate. Adult-friendly activities include mixology classes and horse-drawn carriage rides and the Elan spa offers a wide range of indulgent ESPA treatments. Dinner choices range from a seven-course, wine-paired tasting menu in the beautiful Tasting Room to family favourites in the informal Brasserie.
Doubles from £224; boveycastle.com

The list of attractions and diverse locations in such a sparsely populated region is staggering. Our writer reconnects with his childhood roots

There is a moment in Ozark, the brilliant Netflix drama series about a dodgy accountant forced to launder money for a drug cartel, when the main character reveals a plan to relocate to the lakes in Missouri and invest in an area that has, as he puts it, “more shoreline than the entire coast of California”.

The notion is that the expansive shore is an overlooked and underdeveloped resource in which the primal human joy to be found in proximity to expanses of water could be better exploited. It echoes my own thoughts about Fermanagh, the most westerly county in Northern Ireland, where I was born and raised.

The Vaughan Theatre disappeared from the Toronto scene many decades ago, but it remains vivid in my memory as it was one of the first theatres that my parents allowed me to attend that was not within walking distance of our house.

I especially recall that on hot summer days, when the streets of Toronto sizzled with heat, my friends and I boarded a Vaughan Bus at Oakwood Avenue and Vaughan Road to travel to the theatre.

Because the Vaughan Theatre was only three years old in 1950, the air-conditioning system was new. It was "goose-bump" cold. I also remember seeing the film Francis the Talking Mule at the Vaughan.

As we were pre-teens at that time, my friends and I thought it immensely funny. I remember the line in the movie when Francis the Mule said that he received his information from the FBI—"Feed Bag Information."

The doors of the Vaughan Theatre facing St. Clair Avenue were large sheets of glass, with no metal frames around them. We considered this to be ultra-modern.

The appeal of the theatre continued in the lobby area, where a sleek candy bar of metal and glass wrapped round the north side of the lobby. On either side of the candy bar were sloped ramps that led up to the auditorium.

The seats were extra plush and the stage curtains were rich in appearance and velvety. I believe that they were royal red. When they majestically parted to allow the featured films to begin, it was as if a window on the world had opened.

I remember viewing the film, Son of Ali Baba, starring a very young Tony Cutis and the beautiful Piper Laurie at the Vaughan in 1952. In the movie, when the magic carpet flew over the city of Baghdad, I felt as if I were floating away to realms beyond my wildest dreams. The magic of the movies never departed from my heart.

Inside the Vaughan Theatre in Toronto.

The Vaughan was built in 1947, two years after the Second World War. During the war years, because the news from the battlefront in Europe had been depressing, with casualties reported daily, the movies allowed an avenue of escape for Torontonians.

Following the war, movies remained highly popular and new theatres continued to be opened throughout the city. The Vaughan was one of these, and for "B and F" Theatres, it was considered one of their finest venues.

It seated 1000 move-goers, which was more than the companies' other two large theatres—the Donlands in East York and the Century on the Danforth.

Because theatres competed for audiences, they offered special promotions to attract people on Monday and Tuesday evenings, when audiences were more sparse. Free chinaware and autographed pictures of movie stars were among the items offered.

The architectural firm that designed the Vaughan was Kaplan and Sprachman. Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895-1973) and Mandel Sprachman created the designs for many of the city's finest theatres—the Casino, Eglinton, Downtown, Bellevue, Colony, and the Town Cinema.

Those who remember Toronto's golden age of movie houses, will recognize these names.

The Earlscourt History Club, on a post published in November of 2009, stated that there is a story about a man who hanged himself in the Vaughan Theatre, on its opening night. Lore has it that the building became haunted.

As a pre-teen, I never heard this rumour, but if I had, it would have added to the appeal of this grand theatre. Unfortunately, the only goose-bumps I experienced in the theatre were from the air-conditioning, rather than from a ghost.

The Vaughan Theatre was demolished in the 1980s, and several commercial buildings now occupy the site.

Doug Taylor was a teacher, historian, author and artist who wrote extensively about Toronto history on tayloronhistory.com. This article first appeared on his site on May 15, 2013 and has been republished here with the permission of his estate. The article has been modified slightly.