Has anyone on the forum relocated from the UK to Peterborough or Kingston, or these areas generally?

If so, in your honest opinions, what are they like in respect of -
1) Affordability & quality of housing?
2) Leisure activities/shopping?
3) Transport/traffic?
4) Work opportunities?
5) Crime & anti-social behaviour?
6) People generally (polite, friendly or not!)?

Thanks in anticipation.

Thats a pretty wide area. I came to a job in Belleville and live nearby, its not as big a place as Peterborough or Kingston, and geographically about equidistant from both

Property cost are reasonable, but going up, average now is about $240k, but largely driven by new builds. My place by the river in the countryside is less than that and you can by my neighbours riverside house for less than $200k right now, although it needs some work. Not sure how to judge quality? What do you mean by that, actual build quality?, insulation factors?, size of lot? Amount of maintainence? Like anywhere else all those factors vary.

Shopping is much the same as anywhere else, malls with the usual canadian suspects, plus more boutiquy uniqey stores elsewhere. But then I,m not much of a shopper

Transport and traffic is largely non existant for me, I consider it a jam if i dont get through a set of lights on the first try. Going to Toronto and dealing with that traffic usually leaves me eternally grateful to get back to the boonies.

Work is the key, I got lucky and was headhunted. Depends what you do I guess. There is industry, but well paying jobs are not all that common, and salaries dont compete with say Toronto, but then neither does the cost of housing.

Crime is low, and antisocial crime (ASBO stuff) largely absent. There is crime, the occasional murder, some theft (bit little enough that its still newsworthy), but nothing that has ever impacted on my life or that of my friends (except for one buddy whos truck was stolen from a Toronto hotel, but thats not really local)

People where I am are friendly, but as elsewhere you have to work to turn that superficial niceness to strangers into a lasting proper friendship

Hope that helps. I like it here and enjoy the more relaxed, slower pace of life.

Thanks iaink. We are looking at this area as it is close to family (my wife is Canadian). Have also visited Belleville a few times myself, so I'm fairly familiar with the area.
I suppose it terms of housing I mean can I expect to get more for my money in terms of space than I would in the equivalent-sized town in the UK? I'm more or less assuming the answer to be "yes" unless I was crazy enough to want to live in Toronto or B.C!
Anyway, my biggest worry is finding the right job in these slightly less urbanised areas. I work in IT (mainly database development and support) and I'm also currently working for the civil service in the UK (not sure if that would make any difference) and I understand this to be a very competitive job market in Canada. As Peterborough and Kingston are the largest cities that are within a short drive of my in-laws, these are our first choices. We would also consider Ottawa, Guelph, Kitchener/Waterloo or maybe Hamilton if needs be, however,
Just to put your thoughts in context; how long have you lived in Canada and from where in the UK did you relocate? Also, if you don't mind my asking: what is your line of work? Thanks again.
P.S. YNWA! Where can you watch LFC and the like?

Im an engineeer, been here since 98, moved here after three years in Norwich (which was nice), but spent years at Uni in Leeds. Born in the Home counties and mostly raised on the wirral. Liverpool games on the usual satalite TV contenders, sportsnet, setanta etc.

You will get more house, but its may not be built how you are used to. My place is older, on 3/4 acre, 3 beds, 1800sq ft. Wouldnt sell for much more than $160k in the current market.

Dont know much about IT jobs. Obviously the major employers have IT people, and there is a government IT center in Belleville I believe, but more than that I couldnt say. Can you telecommute in your area of speciality or do you need to be on site? dbd33 is the database guy here I guess?

I have an aquantaince in peterborough doing network IT stuff, it took her years to get a decent full time position Im afraid.

Ottawa has more to offer you in terms of work and isn't too far from the places you mentioned.
I have lived here fro 48 years, most of my working life in Ottawa with General Dynamics.
We are, I think ideally situated from both Toronto and Montreal ( which I prefer)
Housing is pretty much the same as Kingston.

I retired in 1992 so I am not very knowlegable of the present employment situation. Most of the hi-tech companies are in the west end ( Kanata mainly)

Hi we own a house/cottage in Seeley's Bay about 20 minutes north of Kingston so can answer some of your questions:-

1) Affordability & quality of housing?
Well it was 5 years ago but we bought a 3 bedroom waterfront house on 2 acres - its was recently "valued" at $310,000. Often look at properties in the area and think its pretty reasonable - apparently the Rideau has the cheapest waterfront in Eastern Ontario?
2) Leisure activities/shopping?
Loads to do if you like the outdoors - fishing, water sports, golf, snowmobiles etc. As for shopping Kingston has malls and individual shops galore. Other spots like Westport offer more touristy/antique shopping.
3) Transport/traffic?
Think Kingston can be a bit slow downtown. Good train link to and from Montreal and Toronto.
4) Work opportunities?
Cant say - think its fairly slow like most places - not sure about IT but 5 prisons in the area LOL.
5) Crime & anti-social behaviour?
Not come across any problems - Kingston is a very mixed bag - has a big hospital, army base, prisons and a university - makes it interesting!
6) People generally (polite, friendly or not!)?
We have made loads of friends very easily. Some of the villages they are a bit less friendly. Employed various locals to do work - very trusting (no deposits upfront) and no problems.

Hope that helps a bit! - Good Luck!

If (when) we move back to Canada it will be to eastern Ontario. Kingston #1 choice with Brockville #2.

I like Brockville too - but dont know it as well as Kingston.

If you ever want a short term winter rental - let me know!

Forget doing that here. It's hard enough to get into at the best of times. These are not the best of times. The government is cutting positions, not creating new ones.

I guess. 30 years of doing things databasal while living in Ontario. I had a contract in Ottawa once. We have some clients in Montreal and Quebec City, one each in Edmonton and Calgary, we had, may still have, one in rural BC. I think that's it for Canada outside of the GTA and, er, this town. Last time I looked Canada accounted for less than 5% of our revenue which is what you'd expect really. It's not much of a place for computing because so many companies, perhaps most of the companies, in Canada are branch plants; the computing is done is either done in the home country of the company or outsourced to somewhere cheap and nasty.

There is, or was, an Ontario government department, revenue perhaps, in Kingston, a contract there came up once but we couldn't find anyone to go so I don't know much about it. Unless you don't really need the money I can't see picking a place and looking for a computing job there, it's more usual to find the job and deal with the place. I'm told Winnipeg has a hot market right now.

I would wager the choice would come down to jobs. Brockville is a lot smaller so jobs can be tougher to get, although have no experience with Kingston. Brockville is big enough (for me) to have most everything we need. It's also nice to be able to get anywhere around town in like 10 minutes. I do like the proximity to nearby centres with Ottawa being 1 hour, Kingston 45 min and Montreal 2 hours. I think Toronto is about 3-3.5 hours.

Kingston is a great place too though and has a greater selection of shops and restaurants. The downtown area is definitely more vibrant too. I think the housing may be a bit more expensive there although never really checked.