Florida resident who has bought an Ontario cottage worries about pipes bursting in winter

A Florida resident who has recently bought a cottage in Ontario seeks expertise from her future neighbours up north.

I live in South Florida and bought a cottage in Tiny, Ontario last year. It’s about 750 sq. ft. and is basically heated with a gas fireplace that is on all year at 50 F. We have a dug well at about 40 feet deep and a holding tank. The previous owner lived in the cottage all winter for the past 10 years. She had electric base board heaters that we took out when we renovated as they were old. The cottage has vinyl siding. We really want to go up there for Christmas this year but wanted to ask your contractor readers if we need to drain the pipes between now and then – or do we risk freezing and rupture of pipes if we don’t? Can we just drain the pipes when we leave? The cottage has no basement and sits is on about a 2-3 foot crawl space. I’m so ignorant about this kind of thing. Any advice would be so welcome!

Jane