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P

rivacy is a relative concept. One person's idea can differ hugely from another's and these preferences are expressed when people look for country property. While primary residence choices will be governed by considerations like distance from work, school and public transit, other priorities come to the fore in the choice of a vacation home, and the issue of privacy is pretty high up the list. Some want to be in a community of like-minded people with a lot of space while others are horrified at the prospect of being with people they might have to get to know. For some, privacy is something that can only be found indoors, often restricted only to the bedroom, and comfort is found in being close to neighbours; for others, large hedges enclosing intimate spaces become a part of the private area. For still others, it takes hundreds of acres to provide the needed buffer.

Over the past hundred years our concept of privacy and private space has changed. Probably a lot of the change can be attributed to the automobile, not because it allowed people to get farther away from the city into the countryside, but because it made getting there a private experience. The automobile replaced the train, a more communal mode of transport. If you took a train somewhere, you had to respect a schedule and you travelled with others. Your trip and your return were dependant upon this scheduled movement of people and your personal plans had to be adjusted to what was available. You were part of a group and conversation and exchange were inevitable, even anticipated. In a car, a family is isolated for the duration of the trip.

During the same period, television has replaced much of our communal experience. Now even when we are in the smallest group, the family unit, it is not necessary to continuously acknowledge our co-participants beyond agreement of the selection of programming. At the same time, we are bombarded with commercial messages, our cell phones and beepers follow us almost everywhere, and we seem always on the go.

Humans have always existed in groups. We are communal animals and the life of a hermit or recluse was never the norm. What differentiates us from the other species is our ability and need to communicate abstract concepts, yet now many of us crave a 'Walden Pond' life of solitude. We idealize the huge spaces of the family farm and want to acquire large private properties. We fence them and try to possess them, feeling that anyone crossing is trespassing on our property.

In F.C. Ireland's Sketches of Lachute in the late 1880's, he mentions a bylaw that obliged farmers to take their fences down to a maximum height of 24" for the winter to facilitate the passage of sleighs. What does this say about the citizens' understanding of private land ownership? In farming communities, farmers almost invariably built stiles for people to cross over fences and through pastures. Water used to be taken from a communal well and farmers and ranchers used stretches of land at the disposal of the community for grazing their animals together. Society was built around an imperfect balance between private and common spaces. Our personal wealth was a measure of our value to the common good. Our fields were showpieces, measures of our ability as stewards, on public display. The saying "Good fences make good neighbours" was a reflection of the need to keep grazing animals in rather than neighbours out.

Some country communities maintain the communal aspect of those farming days, keeping properties in a perfect state, showpieces for the neighbours and passers-by. Around some lakes the residents even welcome what others would consider trespassing. In some of these areas, the individual houses feel more like communal spaces, with people dropping by continuously. In contrast to a pristine isolated environment where the neighbours are trees and the visitors, deer and birds, these areas bubble with the excitement of a summer camp for adults.

As a result of these different expectations and priorities, understanding what a person means in terms of privacy is one of the first challenges that we have to meet in beginning our search on behalf of a family looking to acquire a country property.

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