The Acres at High Shore

The Acres at High Shore is a container home rental with a design born out of a unique solution to a problem. Made of four 20-foot shipping containers arranged in a pinwheel configuration, this container bed and breakfast is a charming place to visit in Prince Edward County.

For those who don’t know, Prince Edward County is a scenic, rural area a couple of hours east of Toronto, Canada. It has wineries, historic villages, and plentiful outdoor activities along the various bays and waterways. As an established vacation destination, it’s the perfect place for a rental guesthouse.

This brings us to the owner, Alison Lawtey. Alison left the hustle and bustle of Toronto with the plan to start a bed and breakfast after leaving her corporate job behind. After forming a business plan for her idea, she got to work looking for property and quickly found what she now calls The Acres at High Shore.

It’s a 14-acre property that included an 1870s farmhouse for her to use personally, a huge wooden barn, and an open field perfect for building her rental property. The property is about 15 minutes from several local destinations and towns (including the main arterial highway, The 401), making it easy for visitors to access and depart for short activities.

But as Alison got to work planning and designing several different container cabins spaced around the property to use for short-term rentals, she encountered a problem: the local government. Specifically, the local zoning laws meant that she could only have a single housing unit detached from the main home. It’s a rule that didn’t apply to waterfront properties, but unfortunately, hers was landlocked.

Faced with this challenge, Alison and her designer went back to the drawing board and came up with a novel solution. By arranging four shipping containers into a large square, placing wooden gates in the openings between containers that presented as a continuous wall, and having a pergola-style ‘roof’ over the central courtyard, the four containers would count as a single building.

Although there are four containers, there are actually only three rental units (Alison calls the container rental units ‘sweets’ instead of ‘suites’ as a play on words). The fourth container is used as a kitchenette and sitting/eating area. Although it doesn’t have food preparation equipment, there are a refrigerator, sink, and dishes available for all the guests to use.

There are obvious pros and cons to this design, but it was the solution to the zoning problem. While each container is individually rentable, you’re literally just feet away from other guests. While this might be ideal for a large family or group of friends, strangers may find the proximity a bit jarring. But on the flip side, it may be a great way to meet new friends and enjoy the rural property together.

Each of the three container guest suites is the same. There’s a bathroom in the back of the container, where a sliding barn door alternatively covers either the toilet or the sink/shower area. On the edge facing the courtyard, an entrance door was added. On the side facing the land, a large floor-to-ceiling window was installed. And where the doors of the container are located, a small patio was built that uses each door as a vertical support for the wooded deck.

Besides that, there’s a wall-mounted television, a split-unit HVAC, and a queen bed. The units feel larger than they are thanks to the large windows and abundant natural light. And they feel more private than you would expect since the majority of the views are outside, away from the courtyard where the other containers sit.

Building the container rentals meant dealing with the usual scrutiny from building inspectors, but with good drawing and the necessary approvals, everything was accomplished as planned. The requirement from the county to build all three units as one building likely saved a good sum on the construction. Keeping all the electrical, well water, gas, and septic utilities (as well as WiFi) in one place meant a lot less on-site work.

The containers sit on a screw pile foundation that required far less earthwork than a concrete foundation and had the added benefit of elevating the containers a couple of feet off the ground. This made utility hookups much easier and gives better views through all the windows.

Alison purchased the one-trip containers as shells: holes for the windows and doors had been cut, reinforcements welded in, and paint added. The rest of the work like adding spray foam insulation, wiring and plumbing, and building the walls was accomplished onsite by local contractors.

Did using containers make the project cheaper? While we don’t have the final costs, Alison has indicated in prior interviews that she thinks that containers may have cost her a bit more than other types of construction. But in return, she got very durable structures that can endure the hard winters and hard use of rental customers. Plus, the novel architectural style is a draw that helps her attract visitors and charge more per square foot.

Since opening her three container cabins to rental customers in 2018, Alison has received glowing reviews. Guests seem to love the style of the container units despite their proximity to one another. 

The conservation wetland on the property has paths around it offering views of a pond, junipers, and agricultural fields. And there’s also a fire pit and large deck for guests in addition to the central courtyard between the containers. Long story short, while the containers are cozy, there is plenty to do outside as well if the weather permits.

There are also bikes and snowshoes (depending on the season) that are available for guests to use. And the historic barn has been converted into an event venue available for separate rental if guests want to share the property with an even larger crowd.

We really enjoy the design of these container cabins. Their design and arrangement offer a lot of bang for your buck: three separate rental units in a small space. And yet, due to their arrangement, each unit feels like it has the property’s views all to itself. We could see the Acres at High Shore inspiring similar designs in other locations that have space constraints or other difficult project constraints.