Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\nHugh Drew-Brook was a successful businessman who had the means to buy a stately existing house or build his own, but he became obsessed with the tumbledown stone walls of the property.visualadvantage.ca<\/p>\n
The Mill Today<\/p>\n
After purchasing the property in 1965, Mr. Drew-Brook spent his weekends and holidays on the painstaking task of reassembling the walls.<\/p>\n
He put his son to work \u201clifting things, moving things, pulling out nails, straightening nails, sanding wood \u2013 anything a six-year-old could do,\u201d the younger Mr. Drew-Brook recalls with a laugh.<\/p>\n
A few hours of labour earned him his liberty to try fishing in the rushing waters of Irvine Creek, which flows into the larger Grand River.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful river. It\u2019s all carved out of limestone,\u201d he says, adding that the workers carried stone up the cliff by hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey chiselled the stone right out of the river to make the building,\u201d says the retired firefighter. \u201cI just can\u2019t imagine how tough everyone was back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
The creek\u2019s waterfall powered the workings of the mill.<\/p>\n
His father acquired some antique barns from farms near Milton, Ont. and used the wood to create a post-and-beam interior with an open plan.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the rustic cottage his father envisioned expanded into a comfortable home.<\/p>\n
Today, the two-storey house has five bedrooms and two bathrooms in more than 5,000 square feet of living space on one acre of land.<\/p>\n
The principal rooms include a living room with a wood stove, a dining area and a kitchen with a beamed ceiling and wood countertops crafted from 100-year-old planks.<\/p>\n
Mr. Drew-Brook tracked down some vintage industrial window frames made of iron.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re hard to find,\u201d says his son.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a family room with walls clad in wood, sliding doors opening to the deck and access to a hot tub.<\/p>\n
The second storey has three bedrooms and a bathroom with a stand-alone tub.<\/p>\n
The elder Mr. Drew-Brook used the foundation of one century-old barn to build a stone wall and a stand-alone garage.<\/p>\n
The younger Mr. Drew-Brook says his father, who lived in the home until he was 94, spent decades working on the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was dedicated to that place.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recalls many family holidays and celebrations at the house.<\/p>\n
In the early 1990s, the elder Mr. Drew-Brook purchased the historic theatre built in 1928 in the nearby town of Fergus and restored it as well. The renovated building became a venue for summer stock theatre.<\/p>\n
Over the years, the village of Salem, where the mill was located, has merged into the larger community of Elora.<\/p>\n
The more well-known Elora Mill has operated for many years as a boutique hotel. Many visitors spend time at the town\u2019s restaurants, caf\u00e9s and arts venues.<\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\nDavid Drew-Brook says the deck is a serene place to rejuvenate.Foto Werks<\/p>\n
The Best Feature<\/p>\n
Outside, a concrete deck overlooks the river and waterfall.<\/p>\n
Mr. Drew-Brook says the deck is a serene place to rejuvenate.<\/p>\n
He often sees herons wading below and occasionally hears owls hooting from the surrounding trees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6 Millridge Estate Private, Elora, Ont. Asking Price: $3.2-million Taxes: $10,687 (2025) Lot Size: 98.5 by 131.9 feet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75,59495,1398],"class_list":{"0":"post-596398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-homeoftheweek","16":"tag-nodelphi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}