Chateau Wembley – Holliday’s Hideaway, Four Mile Lake

By Guy Scott

At its founding, it was called Holliday’s Hideaway and later Chateau Wembley. One of the common means of advertising your resort was to have postcards produced. An appealing photo was taken and transferred to postcard stock. Copies were sold to guests (or given away). The postcards were also for sale at local businesses. Postcards were both a cheap way of saying hello to friends back home and recording local sights. They have become a historical “snapshot in time” for smaller communities. “Follow the Blue Jay, To Holiday’s Hideaway Where the fish bite Day and night And you will enjoy your stay At Holliday’s Hideaway. “ So went the little verse to advertise the lodge opened in 1939 at the north-east corner of Four Mile Lake. Anna and Fred Holliday purchased a waterfront parcel from the Nichols Family farm and built a lodge on a hill overlooking Four Mile Lake, not far from the village of Burnt River. The bottom floor consisted of a living room with fireplace and a dining room with a table that seated 12 patrons. A large kitchen was added to the back and a full-length veranda on the front. The site also featured several small auxiliary cabins and a big cottage right on the water. All cottages & cabins were housekeeping, but Anna also supplied meals in the lodge. A Sunday chicken dinner cost a mere 75 cents. Why cook yourself! In 1945, the Hollidays sold the operation to Arthur Child. He operated under the name “Chateau Wembley”, Wembley being the name of the access road. In the 1960s, the business was closed out and the lodge became a private cottage. A nearby undeveloped shoreline was divided into cottage lots and called Avalon Park.