Owners of 'magical' Sussex-area home disenchanted with ATV noise, partiers

The pocket-sized home in Waterford, N.B., known as the Abbey has an elvish ambience.

The cottage — with its rounded, stone walls, steeply pitched roof, pink-and-blue paint and arched wooden doorway — invites comparison to the imaginary realms of J.R.R. Tolkien.

We've had days where 50 to 100 people have been coming down the road, all very clearly drunk.- John Cushnie, owner of the Abbey

It's a landmark for hundreds of hikers, ATVers, ice climbers and geocachers that make their way year-round to the trails in Parlee Brook, outside Sussex.  

"There's was something enchanting and magical about it," said Kara Au, who lives there with her partner, John Cushnie.

But contrary to the Middle Earth vibes, life at the Abbey is no fairytale.

The couple say loud ATVs, partying and trespassing have become so unbearable that they're spent $1,200 of their own money on noise-dampening measures, and involved the RCMP, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, and members of local government — all, so far, with no success.

"We've had days where 50 to 100 people have been coming down the road, all very clearly drunk," said Cushnie, adding people have urinated on their lawn, screamed obscenities at night, trespassed through their gate to snap pictures through the windows, and even physically threatened him and his partner.

'Fantastical architecture'

The Abbey was built in the 1980s by the Cushnie family, back-to-the-landers who were looking to start a new life in the "rural utopia" near Sussex, said Cushnie.

The Cushnies constructed a network of fanciful structures along Parlee Brook Road, where the family farmed coldwater fish for more than two decades.

"It's fantastical architecture, out of my father's head," said Cushnie. 

The unique look of the home, and the popularity of nearby trails leading to natural attractions like the Friar's Nose, ice-climbing sites and geocaches has led to confrontations.

"The problem really escalated this spring," said Au, describing a group of "incredibly aggressive" ATV riders, who surrounded her and mocked her requests to stop parking in front of her house, popping wheelies and returning late at night to yell insults at the house.

RCMP can't do much

ATV riders aren't the only people who don't take kindly to being asked to move along, Au said.

"Some are drunk, some are pissed off, some are swerving around," she said. "I'm afraid for my safety."

The couple said the RCMP have been sympathetic, but there's only so much they can do.

"We don't have cellphone reception out here," Au said. "So if anything happens at night or we have a situation, I have to drive to the end of the road."

By that time, she said, "the people have harassing us have just driven off."

Short-lived relief

In mid-April, Au and Cushnie proposed building a berm — a high, long earthen wall following the natural curve of the road. They arranged for a meeting with the Department of Transportation, which "said OK, and that was it," Au said.

In May, the couple spent $1,200 to build the wall, which "stopped the problems immediately," she said. 

But just a few weeks later, Au said, DTI contacted them again, saying there had been a "miscommunication" and they had to take it down at their own expense.

 "They started completely denying that they gave us permission," she said. 

Long history of conflict

In a statement emailed to CBC News, Jeff Hull of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Department said "representatives have been in touch with the property owners and will be seeking a meeting this week, in order to discuss the issue and seek a resolution."

Jeff Branscombe, head of the Sussex ATV Club, was familiar with the couple's complaints and said the club has asked riders to stay off the road. 

But old habits die hard, he said, adding the conflict between trail users and the Cushnie family goes back more than a decade.  

"Mr. John Cushnie will be very confrontational with ATVers." 

Branscombe said he has never seen trail riders cause a disturbance, and the club doesn't care if the couple build a berm.

'Just trying to live in peace'

 Au and Cushnie said they want everyone to enjoy the trails around Parlee Brook, provided they do so respectfully.

"What's not safe is having cars driving around this corner doing 70 kilometres an hour, spraying gravel on my cars and in front of my house," said Au. "What's not safe is having people showing up late at night yelling obscenities, and people on ATVs aggressively harassing me.

"I don't understand what I'm supposed to do at this point."

"I'm from here, was home-schooled here, and I literally have spent my life here," said Cushnie. "I love living here in the country. One of the perks of living in New Brunswick is that we have so much rural space."

"We want everybody to come, hike, have a wonderful time," said Au. "But they also have to understand that there are limits, in terms of giving homeowners privacy and respecting our wishes."

"We're just regular people trying to live out here in peace."