Tara Jeffrey
Jeff and Terry Lindsay’s popular roadside ‘Fairy Treehouse’ is no more.
“We were just so, so sad,” Terry Lindsay said, recalling the day last month the Cathcart Boulevard couple learned the beloved and quirky maple in the boulevard of their home was doomed.
“Someone filed a complaint about the tree, so the city said we had to take it down because it was unsafe.”
The famous Fairy House, also known as the Gnome Home, had become a trademark stop for curious visitors.
After moving in a few years ago, Jeff Lindsay, looking for something to do in retirement, transformed a gaping hole in the tree’s trunk into a fairy door, using a little paint and some decorations.
He even re-built the attraction after it was destroyed in a car accident in 2018.
The couple enjoyed watching residents check it out, often stopping to chat and take photos. Visitors came from Ottawa and London, as well as nearby daycare centres.
“It was our little project and we just loved it,” Jeff said.
The Lindsays learned recently someone had complained to the city about a ‘split’ in the tree’s structure.
“Sure, it had been hit a couple of times, but from what we could see, it wasn’t going to cause any problems,” Terry said.
“We thought they could just trim it back, or at least leave the stump above the fairy door,” she added.
“But no, they had that whole tree down in about four or five hours.”
That included smashing Jeff’s signature green fairy door with a sledgehammer.
Jeff has since made a sign he intends to put out front explaining the tree’s absence.
“We’re going to have a lot of disappointed people this summer, once they come by and realize it’s gone,” he said.
“I know it’s just a tree, but it was a really fun tree. We’re just really bummed.”