Originally Posted by marchhare

Thank you for your replies, but I'd like to know specifically about places in Canada.

Originally Posted by izzi81

Halifax NS? Small city, very friendly, close to nature (no mountains but lakes, forests, coastline), calm, lots of space just outside the city, local produce available...

Originally Posted by marchhare

How do you intend to travel? By car? By bicycle? Public transit?
If I could cycle or walk to work, that'd be lovely. I don't drive at the moment, so I'll say by bike, public transport or by foot..

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat

There's your problem. A semi-rural idyll in Canada doesn't come with public transport. If you can't/don't want to drive then you have to live in a city pretty much.

Originally Posted by MillieF

Absolutely. I am in 'downtown' Fredericton, and Fredericton is small, but I'd be stuffed without a car, we have public transport, but it's not frequent or reliable, and we have deep winter for four months minimum. Biking is an option, I know Bristol in Moncton does it, and a couple of people I work with have winter tyres on their bikes.

Originally Posted by marchhare

That makes a lot of sense and I realise I asked a massively vague question here! As I said I'm at the visiting stage so in asking for advice on a place to visit, I guess I made it harder adding the 'place to live' part in there. At the same time, I mentioned that because as some of you have said, living in a place isn't the same as visiting.

But you're right! Let me see if I can give a little more detail with your questions.

What kind of culture do you want? By culture, I don't mean ballet and art galleries, but what do you hope to have in common with your neighbours? What values do you hope they'll have?
In an ideal world I'd like to be among people with a friendly sense of community without being imposing. You know, people who won't look like they've been insulted if a stranger says hi. People who appreciate life more than work. Not that working hard isn't a virtue, but a view that the rat race isn't everything. It's good to stop and smell the (frozen) roses once in a while?

What kind of food do you hope to eat?
More local produce would be great. In a buying local is good for the place rather than a pretentious way, if that makes sense.

If you could drive for 30 minutes, what would you hope to see out your window?
A lot of nature of opposed to a lot of architecture. Trees, mountains, hills would all be lovely. Ocean is nice too, but not a necessity if I had the trees and mountains part. And wildlife. If I was going to drive for 30 minutes to work, I'm not saying I wouldn't expect to see any buildings or traffic or city life, but I'd like some greenery mixed in there too.

How would you spend your weekends? What hobbies do you wish to pursue without having to take a flight to access? What would you expect to find in your city?
I'm not averse to going to a pub, restaurant or cinema, I'm not entirely anti-social so I would enjoy these things too, but I'd also like to take a bike ride, hike, stroll, get away from the hussle and bussle whenever I wanted. Regularly.

How do you intend to travel? By car? By bicycle? Public transit?
If I could cycle or walk to work, that'd be lovely. I don't drive at the moment, so I'll say by bike, public transport or by foot.

I know that nowhere is perfect, people aren't perfect, I'm certainly not perfect. Still, we generally try to aim for something good, don't we? Even if we have to some drawbacks.

Originally Posted by not2old

Laid back, its so true that Canadians are hockey watching with their feet up on a case of 24 Molson Canadian eh!

BobAndDoug.com - Sounds

covered in snow & more snow ... well, it just seems that way most of the time