The Two-County Lake · One Hour From Edmonton
Say it with us: luh-NUN. The lake nobody can spell on the first try is the County of Barrhead's flagship water — shared across the boundary with Lac Ste. Anne County — and one of the last places within an hour of Edmonton where lakefront still starts under $200K. Quiet coves, older plats, honest cabins.
Browse by subdivision
Lac La Nonne's shoreline was platted in small pieces over decades, which is why it reads like a scrapbook rather than a master plan — resort plats from the fifties, acreage subdivisions from the eighties, and a few names that only the locals and the county map agree on. Here's the tour, counter-clockwise-ish.
The lake's best-known address, generous enough to come in three servings — Moonlight Bay Estates plus its North and South neighbours. A mix of original cabins and newer year-round builds around the bay that earned the romantic name honestly: moonrise over this water is a local institution.
Widest range on the lake
Home to Whiterock Beach and the stretch of shore that families with floaties gravitate toward. Whiterock's lots trade on swimmability — a gentler entry, a brighter bottom — and its cabins tend to stay in families for generations for exactly that reason.
Beach premium, still modest
The name is the mission statement. Idle Hours is one of the lake's original resort plats — compact lots, partially serviced (think cistern and holding tank), and the least expensive way to get a deed near this water. Buy it as the summer camp it was born to be, and it will never disappoint you.
The lake's lowest buy-in
A small subdivision wearing the lake's name with a little extra flourish. Parc La Nonne offers treed lots and lake access in a pocket that turns over rarely — the kind of plat where the neighbours notice a new truck before the sign goes up.
Occasional listings only
Greendale, Greendale Acres and Redwood cluster along one leafy stretch of the lake's orbit — part cottage plat, part small-acreage country, with some parcels big enough for the boat, the camper and a garden that gets out of hand. The blurred line between lake lot and acreage is the appeal.
Lot size does the pricing
Two of the lake's quietest subdivisions, known mostly to the people who already own there. MacGill Estates and Cambarr surface a listing every year or two apiece — watch-list territory for buyers who've decided this is their lake and are willing to wait for their cove.
Patience pricing
The Lac La Nonne file
It's French for "lake of the nun," it's pronounced luh-NUN, and yes, everyone gets it wrong the first time — including, occasionally, the listing descriptions. The upside of a name nobody can spell is a lake fewer people search for, and that obscurity is quietly subsidizing your purchase price. Wabamun and Pigeon Lake spent decades getting famous; Lac La Nonne spent them staying affordable.
The lake sits squarely on the boundary between the County of Barrhead and Lac Ste. Anne County, and your side of the water decides more than your view. Taxes, development permits, road grading and septic sign-offs all flow from whichever county holds your legal address — so two nearly identical cabins across the lake from each other can come with different mill rates and different rules about what you can build next summer. It's not a problem; it's just a fact worth checking on line one of the listing rather than at the lawyer's office.
Much of the shoreline was platted for summer use, and the services never pretended otherwise. Partially serviced is the phrase you'll meet constantly: power at the lot, water by cistern (hauled or delivered), wastewater by septic or holding tank. Some newer builds have drilled wells and full septic fields; many charming older cabins do not. None of this should scare you — half of cottage Alberta lives happily this way — but it should shape your offer. A four-season home and a three-season cabin can look identical in July; the difference is plumbing, and it's worth exactly the price gap between them.
Here's the trade in one breath: an hour from Edmonton, eight to fifteen genuine listings a season, lakefront from about $150,000 to $700,000. The famous lakes closer to the city cleared these price bands years ago and kept climbing. Lac La Nonne's coves are quieter, its boat traffic lighter, and its market small enough that the right cabin is less about budget and more about timing. Decide which plat suits you, set the alert, and be ready to drive out the weekend something surfaces — the good ones don't wait for a second weekend.
Good questions
How much does lakefront at Lac La Nonne cost?
Realistically, expect eight to fifteen true active listings around the lake in a given season, ranging from about $150,000 for a partially serviced lot in one of the older resort subdivisions to roughly $700,000 for a year-round waterfront home. The middle of the market — a solid three-season cabin with its own frontage or deeded lake access — trades in the $250,000 to $450,000 band. For water an hour from Edmonton, that undercuts the region's marquee lakes by a wide margin.
Which county is my Lac La Nonne property actually in?
It depends on the shore. Lac La Nonne straddles the boundary between the County of Barrhead and Lac Ste. Anne County, so subdivisions on opposite sides of the lake answer to different municipal offices. It matters practically: property taxes, development permits, road maintenance and septic approvals all come from whichever county your lot sits in. Check the legal address before you buy — same lake, same sunsets, two different town halls.
What does partially serviced mean at Lac La Nonne?
Many of the lake's older subdivisions — Idle Hours is a good example — were platted as summer resorts, and their services reflect it. Partially serviced usually means power is at the lot but water arrives by cistern (you haul it or have it delivered) and wastewater leaves via a septic tank or holding tank rather than a sewer line. Some properties have drilled wells; many do not. It is entirely livable — thousands of Albertans cottage this way — but confirm the exact arrangement, the tank sizes and the pump-out costs before treating a three-season cabin as a four-season home.
