tammy uk

im new to the sight , hoping to visit canada in oct on a reccie cant wait :

Karen1203

Hi and welcome to BE Tammy, I am also originally from Lancashire! You will find lots of very useful information on this site - whereabouts are you thinking of going to?

tammy uk

ontario also, my family and had booked to go to thailand on holiday, but we have talk about moving to canada for some time now , so what better to spend the money on than to explore a little of canada , ontario really sticks out for us, we all really excited.

LynseySmith

Hi Tammy

Have you applied for residency or are you hoping to decide after your October visit? What areas of Ontario do you plan to see? Hubby and I with kids hoping to move out next year or so. We did a reccie last August around the GTA..Newmarket, Orangeville, Caledon/Bolton, Georgetown and Oakville & Burlington. Decided on Oakville -realised we like our facilities and high street, access to job opps and the big city..oh, and the waterfront.

Good luck

Lynsey, Cheshire

flipflop

Hi tammy and a big welcome to BE.

tammy uk

hi lynsey , not yet applied for res just casing the place out , going to expo 08 in leeds in june iv looked at ottawa area checked out house prices but its where ever the work is, a friend recommedmend BE i can say the info is great , iv been workin blind untill now .

LynseySmith

we're planning on the Leeds expo too - may catch you there!

Lorna_D

Welcome to BE hope you're forthcoming reccie goes well

Cassie 10000

Hello Tammy

Welcome to BE you will find lots of info here.

Have a little look at www.mls.ca a website for Canadian Houses a bit like rightmove website in England.

Good luck in your venture

Cassie

tammy uk

thank you everyone for making me feel welcome

The4BellsLondon

Hi and welcome - v useful and addictive site!!

Nikki73

Just started too, and enjoy reading all the posts!!

asiablue

Hi There

My family are hoping to move to Canada, very scared but also exited, please tell me why Oakville? and is it culturally diverse?

Thanks

Jackie (Telford)

LynseySmith

Hi Jackie

Are you thinking of the Toronto area?

Oakville is further west along the lakeshore from Toronto, less than an hour, not sure on distance about 20 miles?? Take a look at the Oakville town and Oakville tourism sites - bang details into a google search. Also check GO transit site if you want to be on a train line.

I started my search wanting something more rural - Cheshire village life without the price tag , or at least a discreet town out of the GTA sprawl. Loved the Caledon area , and thought hard about Bolton...but realised I really do like having my town facilities and I don't think I want to have to drive large distances to get places, having two young kids - school runs, after school activites, juggling with work.. etc..etc. Distances are always larger there. Would have to drive to Brampton to get GO transit.
Basically wanted a town which has a strong identity but with easy access to all that Toronto offers as we found we also loved Toronto city and would like to be able to get in easily. Quite liked Newmarket - but only had a small old-style main street, rest felt a bit like any US town..large mall..lovely 'Fairy Lake' park though. Greg had been to see Orangeville on his earlier trip, lovely 'Headwaters' countryside around, but town felt a bit hicky for what we wanted - his cousin lives in Hockley Valley which was v.pretty though.

Also realised we wanted good access to jobs in the education sector for me and either around the airport or in the downtown financial district for Greg. Moving more rural would mean one of two things:- limiting job opps, or horrendously long commutes. The traffic is bad here around the M56/M6, but it seems nothing in comparison to the GTA. We're not emigrating to Canada to make our lives more difficult in the long run.

Visited Oakville and Burlington - given tour by Greg's cousin, who lives not far on border of Mississauga/Oakville. This is one of the reasons. Would consider Burlington too though as prices a bit cheaper. Oakville does seem to have quite a british feel...this is reflected in the fact it has quite a nice busy high street with bars, restaurants etc - just a road or two back from the lakeshore. There are good schools, parks, two waterfront marinas, loads of cycle trails, art galleries/cultural activities, Bronte Creek provincial park - which has loads of activities too, like a huge outdoor pool in summer and skating in winter. Basically it had the 'feel good ' factor I was looking for - albeit a bit more built up than my original ideal of moving to Canada.

It came to me on the last day of our reccie, we had to drive from Brampton to Hamilton airport, I suggested we go by Oakville for a last look -we'd visited there at the beginning of our trip and we had a bit of time to kill. To be honest, I was a bit fed up with driving round with two kids in the back and was ready to come home. Just by chance we drove down a road that took us to the lakeshore. There was a little access point to the walking, cycle trails. It was gloriously sunny and I just looked out over the lake and could see Toronto skyline in the distance and thought...I could live here

I think there is quite a large ex-pat contingent...and a british feel, which does seem to be reflected in the current population stats. I don't think it's as ethnically diverse as some of the towns north and east of Toronto, but I would have thought it's becoming more multicultural with the population growth...all of these towns seem to be expanding at quite a rate and it's got to be fed by the new immigrant population too.

I've waffled a few of my thoughts...hope it helps. Just wondered if you were town or rural Telford..and what you were looking for in a move to the big 'C'??
Have you applied or thinking?

Good Luck
Lynsey

tammy uk

hi lynsey
your thread was really intresting and it seems you have set your heart on oakville, got to be honest it sounds fantastic, just a quick question when you were out there did you pre book your accom? if not how easy was it to find bbs hotels for short stays.