Turning a wilderness lodge into a luxury escape

Singaporean Pamela Ho and her Canadian husband Patrick Wallace stayed a night at a log cabin in Nova Scotia and ended up buying it

- Sarah Stanley

In July 2017, Singaporean Pamela Ho and her Canadian husband Patrick Wallace checked into Trout Point Lodge in Nova Scotia, Canada, for a one-night getaway.

The luxury log cabin retreat sits on about 50.5ha of land—roughly the size of 71 football pitches—and lies deep within the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, the largest protected natural space in Nova Scotia. It can host up to 26 guests.

Getting there is part of the experience. The lodge, opened in 2000, is a four-hour drive from Nova Scotia's Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

Upon arrival, guests are rewarded with fresh air and vistas of forests thick with coniferous red spruce, hemlock and balsam fir trees. Just a short walk from the resort, the blue waters of the Tusket and Napier rivers ripple and foam.

The couple first visited Trout Point Lodge at the recommendation of their friends, who lauded the place for its connection to the great outdoors and its power to transport guests to another world.

"It's in the geographical centre of south-west Nova Scotia, so in about 60 or 70km in every direction, there's nothing but unspoilt wilderness. And in the middle of it all is this lodge that's kind of like an oasis in the desert," says Mr Wallace, 53.

The couple—who have been married for 20 years and do not have children—moved to Canada in 2012, following a work posting for Mr Wallace. Previously, they lived in Singapore and met while working at the same semiconductor company in 1999.

Ms Ho took a career break for a year, and in 2013, started a consultancy working with clients in the artificial intelligence and travel software space.

While they knew from online listings that the lodge was for sale, they initially had no intention of purchasing the property, which they understood would amount to a multi-million-dollar project. But an opportunity to speak with its owners during their stay made them reconsider.