pennyhp

We have been living in Southeastern New Brunswick for the last nine years since immigrating from the UK.
It has been good here and we have built up a successful business.
But both our sons are settled in the Toronto area and we now have grandchildren too.
So we have decided to sell up here and make the move to Ontario.
We want to live not much more than two hours either side of Toronto.
We have animals so want to be a little out of town but still need to be close enough to work. Unfortunately we cannot yet retire.

The areas of interest for us are Belleville to the East and as far as London to the West.

I guess I am just looking for general information about either region.
Any thoughts?

veggies

What is it about Belleville that tickles your fancy? There is pretty much nothing there once you take out the mall and walmart. However, if you are looking to be closer to your sons in the Toronto area (depending on where they are), then it's a nice less than 2hrs drive to TO.

London to Toronto you are looking at at the minimum 3hrs drive on a good day i.e. London to KW 1hr, to Hamilton another 1hr, and to Toronto 1hr

pennyhp

Belleville is pretty much as close to Toronto as we can afford as we want to buy a hobby farm such as we have here in the Maritimes.
We get the impression that the drive from the west of Toronto is less arduous than from the east. But of course we don`t really know.
I have heard that there is not much going on economy wise in the Quinte area so getting work worries us.
London while more expensive to buy a farm is a much bigger city so we felt our work prospects might be better.
That is our thought process but we are just in the fact finding part of this next adventure.

dbd33

I don't know anything really about Belleville but we're on 10 acres between Orangeville and Grand Valley. We ride five days or so a week over by Mount Forest. It's 90 minutes from here to the St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday morning (untold hours on a weekday). If you want to know anything about this area I can tell you or find out (the barn owner has been making a living from various equine activities here since horses were invented).

You'll have to be specific with questions. Generally it's fields, lots of farming of various types, huge area for showjumping, was huge for the track, less so since recent changes in the gambling laws. Lots of Mennonites, the roads typically have verges wide enough for horses and carts, lots of dairy, beef, crops, goats, some sheep, some pigs (but they're indoors and so hard to count).

Not so redneck rural here as you might think. Indian food, Caribbean food and, oddly, sushi, within easy reach.

bats

There are plenty of hobby farms around. Quinte, as well as nearby Northumberland, Hastings County. Include those areas in your search too.

pennyhp

I would love to be around Orangeville, but we have missed that boat. We couldn`t afford a hobby farm there unfortunately.
I guess what I want is an area close enough to visit the kids for a day but still within a budget we can afford for an acreage and close to a town that we can build up some clients for commercial cleaning, which is the business we have been running in the Maritimes.
I know I might be asking a lot.
We can`t really go much above $400K for the property. And that`s why the Bellville area appeals.

pennyhp

Thanks for the suggestions.
In my research there is an area between Oshawa and Trenton that has affordable hobby farms but they seem to be a long way from a decent sized town so work would be a problem.
If we could retire with this move it wouldn`t worry me but sadly we still have to work for a good few years to come.

bats

Cobourg, Port Hope, Campbellford, Peterborough. Look at Northumberland.

BristolUK

Bats has sold Cobourg to me.

dbd33

It's a nice area to the north of there, hilly, too far to commute to Toronto so sensibly priced. I dunno about business though, I don't think there's much commercial activity.

On edit, what it says in post 7.

veggies

Coburg is NOT too far from Toronto. Where are you getting this from?

Partially discharged

Heading east from Toronto on the 401, Cobourg is one of the first towns that is out of the Toronto orbit but you can still go there for the day for a dose of urbanity. It has a main street that is still relatively intact and all of the big box crud is away from it. There is a fairly new hospital at the 401. North of the 401 the Northumberland Hills begin fairly soon and there should be hobby farms available there.

Rice Lake and the Kawarthas are not too far away either.

Cobourg tends to have winters not much different from Toronto and has little in the way of lake effect snow like areas NW of Toronto get. Summer in Cobourg can be quite pleasant especially along the lakefront.

dbd33

I used to pass it when commuting, weekly, to Ottawa. It's too far for a daily commute, google maps offers two hours each way.

veggies

Thanks for telling me stuff that i already know. I only drive past it every other week on my way to Ottawa or Montreal

There are people that commute to Toronto for work from Coburg

veggies

And what si it that the OP asked for? That's right..."not more than 2hrs drive"