LAURIE WEIR
PERTH — Tay Valley Township is still pursuing legal action against a nature school over a fourth bedroom at a bed and breakfast on site that helps support programming.
Blueberry Creek Nature Centre, just west of Perth, is an outdoor learning space that has served more than 340 children since 2017. Many are homeschooled or neurodivergent. The program is screen-free, grounded in nature, and funded in part through income from a bed and breakfast on the property.
The township claims that a fourth bedroom turns the house into a “lodge,” which is not permitted on a floodplain. The home operated as a compliant bed and breakfast for years.
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority approved a new bridge on the property in 2025. It confirmed there is no regulatory reason to intervene.
The Ministry of Transportation is currently reviewing a redesign of Highway 7. Planning documents show culvert upgrades west of the school entrance.
The centre’s co-founder Robyn Mulcahy says the Highway 7 project is “exciting in that the highway will be expanded and we will have a paved shoulder, though not a turning lane. The MTO did approve our use as a private school in 2018 … The expanded culvert will also drop the water level further, with the possibility of taking more of the property out of the floodplain…”
One opponent compared the location to the deadly Texas floods that killed more than 130 people, including children at a summer camp. That comparison is not only misleading, it is offensive. There is no raging river at Blueberry Creek like the Guadalupe River in Texas. There is a seasonal culvert, dry land on three sides, and a long record of safe operations, including a spring relocation protocol.
The same person suggested the school should find a new location.
Mulcahy has invested more than $750,000 in the property since 2017. That includes renovations, insurance, infrastructure, and more than $250,000 in legal and planning costs, largely in response to actions taken by the township. She informed the municipality of her plans before opening. She received no objection.
Instead of support, she received silence, then zoning changes, then legal threats. This is the third time the township has threatened to take legal action.
Tay Valley Township says it supports forest schools. But that claim rings hollow when one of the few operating safely and successfully is dragged through court over a technicality.
It’s time to stop the backlash. Councillors could learn a lot from a day at Blueberry Creek Forest School. Maybe they should have a site visit. Just leave the screens and the egos at the office.
It’s time the adults play catch-up.
CATCH UP:
Part 1: Court date looms for Blueberry Creek Nature Centre in Tay Valley Township near Perth
Part 2: ‘I belong here’: Families defend Blueberry Creek Nature Centre amid legal feud
Part 3: ‘We’re not going anywhere’: Inside Blueberry Creek’s long fight to stay open
Blueberry Forest School has given so much learning opportunities to the children and the community yet the Town Council refuses to support and applaud this education centre. What is their problem? Surely it’s not a 4th room, a bed and breakfast? zoning can be changed. why do they oppose Robyn Mulcahy’s success? The success of those children in attendance?
So less than 50 students per year? Sounds like it may be a private personal retreat or a questionable way to get funding. I’d like to think that After 8 year of operation they’d have more than 340 visitors?