He still has a memento from his early days in a trailer - although passersby would be hard pressed to see it. Rather than build a cabin from scratch, Jones enclosed his 30-foot trailer with a roof and wood siding, adding a living room at the side and a workshop out back.

It was a sensible, affordable housing solution, and one Jones believes could only have happened in a place like Savary. "Well, it could happen elsewhere, but only if you did it after dark," joked the England-born Jones, a former City of Calgary employee.

The only clues to the cabin's former life are the round-edged trailer windows peeking through the window frames. Otherwise, it's like any other cabin in the woods, with flowers and tomatoes thriving in hanging baskets and a fenced-in vegetable garden where Jones is growing green beans, Swiss chard and marrows.

Like other cabin owners, Jones' to-do list never seems to end.

"When I picked Savary, a lot of friends back in Calgary asked me, ‘What are you going to do?' ‘Nothing,' I said. Of course, that didn't work out. They don't call it Slavery Island for nothing."