Our Story

Chris and Jean Houston are owners and residents of Nassagaweya farm. It is their home, and into its spacious and historical buildings they like to welcome others for rest, for conversation and to see and sense the Creator's handiwork.

Chris works internationally as a management consultant, sometimes inviting clients to enjoy the retreat facilities where Jean manages their busy and active home.

Nassagaweya is a vision unfolding. Chris and Jean have chosen to open their home as a place of welcome. As a home, it is sometimes available and sometimes closed when the family needs the space. As a retreat and conference space its use is growing as is the list of teams and individuals who have been blessed by its spacious tranquility.

Our History

Nassagaweya farm was settled in the mid 19th century when a stone barn was built on the 100 acre property. The property was logged around 1900 and for the next sixty years was a moderately successful farm, tended by two generations of one family.

Early in the 1970s, the Smith family converted the stone barn into their home, built a cottage in the foundation of an adjacent barn and moved other buildings onto the property. Included, was a log home, originally built in the 1830s as a homestead for a previous generation of Smiths.

By the late nineties, the property needed some upgrading when Chris and Jeannie began its conversion into a spacious retreat centre.

A new wing for the Houston family home was added in 2004 and the Abbey was completed in 2007 making use of the wonderful stone in the original barns. Ponds and gardens have been developed over the years completing the beautiful look of English country gardens.

Now, Nassagaweya farm, named for the local word referring to the meeting of two rivers, is again a meeting place, still a working farm and a wonderful tribute to the rich history of this landscape.