The 81-year-old, who founded Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village in 1980, was busy finalizing plans and working on another tourist attraction for children called Coronation Station. Unfortunately, when he died Aug. 15 following a bout with pancreatic cancer, so did the future of the site.

"He was so excited about it," said his eldest son, Peter Cullen, 53. "He would be lying down, just moaning and groaning because he was so sick, but his eyes would be sparkling when he was talking about this."

Coronation Station, at the corner of Coronation Road and Hwy. 7 in Whitby, would have had a children's garden, splash pad, petting zoo, another miniature village and trains. Peter said his father bought the land "on a whim" last December and that any profits when it opened in 2009 would have gone to charity.

"He just wanted this to happen in the fact that it was such a pretty spot, first of all. He wanted to do it for the people of Whitby and for the kids. This miniature village was going to be spectacular in that we were going to do it so much better than the first time," he said.

But as soon as he was diagnosed with cancer, Peter said his father put a stop to everything. The property will be going up for sale this fall.

"He said, 'No, I can't do it. I'm not going to live long enough.' That was April of this year," Peter said. "His dying wish was that we sell the property and just use the money in his estate and send it to the charities that he had stipulated in his will.

"He was quite upset that he wasn't going to live long enough to see this dream -- this next vision -- come true. He was really doing it for the Town of Whitby -- Durham Region -- because they'd given so much to him by just coming to the Gardens over the last 25 years. This was sort of his way of saying thank you."

Peter, who lives in Ottawa and was the lead designer on the project, said his father didn't want to give him the task of carrying it through to fruition.

"He didn't want to give me that burden, first of all. He saw it as burden and he wasn't sure it was going to work but he was willing to gamble on it when he was alive, but he didn't want me to take that risk, I don't think," he said.

Peter said his father wanted to spend the rest of his fortune on the new site and carry on the legacy of what he had started at Cullen Gardens, which was sold to the Town in January. In 1983, in his book Dig About It... and Dung It: Tales of a Gardener, Len gave readers a little insight into what brought joy in life.

"I like to walk in the woods in the fall, see the wildflowers in the spring," he wrote. "I love to create something and see others enjoy it. I like the challenge of winning a contract and finishing the job on time, at a profit. I like building buildings, old architecture and Canadian antiques. These are some of the things that give me pleasure and fill me with satisfaction."

"That really depicted who my dad was. He put that in all of his kids," Peter said.