Saucy Willow Inn wins heritage award

The owners of the Saucy Willow Inn have received the Osprey Heritage Award in the heritage restoration/adaptive reuse category from the Kawartha Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee in recognition of their work restoring the historic property, one of the oldest in Coboconk.

Stephanie Jukes, who owns the inn with her husband, David, was on hand at city council’s Jan. 13 committee of the whole meeting to accept the accolade.

The Saucy Willow Inn, which was built in 1878 and is a popular tourist destination in Kawartha Lakes, has been restored to its original appearance under the Jukes’ ownership.

The restoration project included preserving the interior and exterior of the inn, as well as adding a coach house.

In presenting the award, Athol Hart, chair of the Kawartha Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee, commended the Jukes for their work, noting they tapped into local resources to complete the project.

“They’ve used local craftspeople, they’ve used local materials and they’ve used great vision in restoring this building so that it continues to function as a hotel, as a place of visitation from outside the community and from within,” Hart said.

Upon accepting the honour, Jukes thanked the committee for the recognition and acknowledged the support the project received throughout the restoration process from the city’s economic development department.

“We’ve worked with several different ones across the province and we are very lucky enough to call this one our favourite,” she said.

The Kawartha Lakes Municipal Heritage Committee hosts the Osprey Heritage Awards every second year to recognize community members who have made exemplary contributions to preserving and promoting heritage in the city.