Country living is très trendy. Just ask style maven Jeanne Beker, who once wrote that fashion insiders are trading in “designer footwear
for a pair of Aigle rubber boots.” And, of course, the Muskoka cottage country has long had a certain cachet.
But for this iconic and influential fashion devotee, the quaint stone house in the Port Hope-Cobourg area that she calls her weekend
home is not about trends at all. “My farmhouse is very sweet, homey and uncontrived,” Jeanne says. “It represents so much of what is precious to me – plus it’s quirky and romantic.”
More chouchou than couture, the house nestles on 123 acres of rolling farmland in the Northumberland County hills. When she found it in the year 2000, Jeanne was looking for a retreat.
Her gig as the face of Fashion Televisionwas keeping her really busy with world travel, and she had just launched the first incarnation of her clothing line (her current clothing line is
available at Hudson’s Bay and on The Shopping Channel). Moreover, her marriage had ended.
