About Us

At Cottage Friends we strive to create new and fresh products each year that are inspired by the cottage lifestyle. Our desire is for you to find something that would be perfect for your gift giving needs for your family, friends and for yourself as well.  

Carolyn Benson, a watercolour artist, has been painting since she was a child. Born and raised in Ontario, and having completed formal training at Sheridan College and George Brown College, she now currently resides in the Barrie area with her husband and their two children. Her passion is to paint images that are well-designed, yet simple in their approach.

With a vision to use her talent to make fresh gift products for family and friends, Carolyn started Carolyn B Designs in 2001, opening for business with a number of theme-oriented collections. It was only natural that her love for cottaging would inspire the first cottage friends product idea – a 4×4 art print in a frame – thus sparking the whole Cottage Friends retail vision.

“We have some of the best customers anywhere! We work very hard to create new and fresh products each year that are inspired by the cottage lifestyle but are perfect for giving as gifts to your family, your friends, and to yourself as well.” -Carolyn Benson