Many folks would like to visit a cordwood home before they take the plunge to build one. Most cordwood owner/builders are very kind & like to share, but they are also homeowners and usually very busy with householder tasks and responsibilities. In order to help those who want to get a “peek at cordwood” here is a list of sites open to the public, or BnB’s where you can spend a night wrapped in cordwood. The Cordwood Education Center at the Merrill School Forest near Merrill, Wisconsin is open to the public on weekends. Maps are provided at the entrance https://www.facebook.com/SFWeAreMAPSchools/
Kinstone Academy is open to the public for self-guided tours. There are three cordwood buildings (sauna, chapel, entrance center), plus a yurt, a tepee and a light straw clay cottage. www.kinstonecircle.com
(Above) The Cordwood Lodge in Bracebridge, Ontario.
The Mermaid Cottage near Del Norte, Colorado is not necessarily a B & B (no breakfast:0), but it is a gorgeous vacation rental. http://mermaid-cottage.org/
(Above) The “Cordstead” boasts 4 round cordwood buildings. The concept is to give you a “cordwood living” experience to see if a cordwood home is your cup of tea. Sandy and Angelika are the finest of hosts. https://thecordstead.blogspot.com/
The Gathering Place on Golden Pond in Coe Hill, Ontario is a Cordwood BnB
http://www.gatheringbb.com/
Phone Number: 613-337-5177
2635 Old Hastings Road
Coe Hill, ON
K0L 1P0
E-mail: relax@gatheringbb.com
The Barna’s Vacation Rental is in Houghton, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. Nicole built this as her college dorm room and now rents it to weary travellers. http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p281714
This beautiful cordwood rental by Rarilee is in the White Face Mountains of upstate New York. Check out her BnB link. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4872916?s=vcDi
Some suggestions for visits: Call ahead, make sure you are a considerate visitor, don’t overstay your welcome and enjoy the experience.
The cordwood sauna (above) at Kinstone Circle is also available for rent and so are the yurt, the teepee and the straw-clay cottage (below). www.kinstonecircle.com
(Above) The Light Straw Clay Cottage at Kinstone.
The Cordwood Education Center at the Merrill School Forest in Merrill, Wisconsin USA is also for rent. You can contact the Merrill School District for more information at https://www.facebook.com/SFWeAreMAPSchools/
If your goal is to find out if cordwood living is for you, take the time to visit and check out some of these places. With a rental, you can poke around and enjoy your stay rather than finding someone to open their cordwood home.
Should you wish to learn how to build a cordwood cottage, cabin or home, please visit www.cordwoodconstruction.org While you are there, click on the pictures, read the brief articles, check out the latest workshops and newsletter and if you are interested click on the Online Bookstore to see all the cordwood literature available in print and ebook format.
If you have questions that aren’t answered on the website you can email me at richardflatau@gmail.com
Readers have requested a brief bio, so here goes:
“Richard & Becky Flatau built their mortgage-free cordwood home in 1979 in Merrill, Wisconsin. Since then, they have written books, conducted workshops, facilitated 2005, 2011 and 2015 Cordwood Conferences and provided consultation for cordwood builders. Cordwood Workshop Vide, Cordwood Construction Best Practices (print) and Cordwood Conference Papers 2015 are the newest publications available from their ever-expanding online cordwood bookstore.” www.cordwoodconstruction.org