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In the early summer of 2018, for example, he tweeted “Today I am lucky enough to be returning to Ontario – whose beauty I learnt about via my beautiful Canadian wife.”

The other reason to expect the Spencers might leave Silver Lake’s forest undisturbed is that they are also purchasing a cottage at the east end of the property, not directly connected, but very close, across a road, on the waterfront of Arthurlie Bay on the much larger Lake Rosseau, one of the more famous of the trio Muskoka lakes — Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau, Lake Joseph.

That cottage was listed at $8-million. The land sold for approximately $1.3-million.

The Rosseau cottage faces east, so sunrises are glorious, but afternoons can be dark. The most valuable Muskoka properties tend to face the south and west for this reason. The nearby Silver Lake forest, however, has some western exposure at the spot designated for a potential future residential building.

The local council met in February to hear a variance application for this property, which was approved in May and finalized in November, just before the deal closed. It requires that the new owners agree to the terms of a site evaluation report and water quality impact assessment prepared last year.

It does allow for construction of a waterfront house on Silver Lake, although given that the Spencers also bought the nearby cottage, the resident said there is hope that they intend to leave it as a pristine forest, to be used as it is now, mostly by deer, fox, and other wildlife.