Hopefully I should hear on a couple of job offers today, so we're busy looking at potential places to live in Calgary or Edmonton.
The idea of living on a lake community really appeals, for a variety of reasons.

I've heard good things about Summerside, and we could get something affordable on there having viewed the website. Does anyone else on here live there?

Also, is anyone able to recommend any others in Calgary?

I lived in Summerside when I first got here and its very nice. Convenient for route 2, the airport(10 mins away) and the Anthony Henday ring road. And the lake is excellent, filtered fresh water, fishing, swimming etc..

Most of the "lakes" in Calgary are manmade. Only residents of a given neighbourhood and their guests are allowed to use the lake that is situated in the relevant community.

We live in Oakridge, which is adjacent to South Glenmore Park. As such, our neighbourhood has direct access to the Glenmore Reservoir, which is a dam on the Elbow River and which supplies about half of Calgary's domestic water.

South Glenmore Park is a lovely place to walk, go for picnics, etc. We have a canoe, which we keep at the boat dock throughout the summer. To the west of the reservoir, on either side of the Elbow River, there is a delightful wetland wilderness area called The Weaselhead. Once you get into the forest, you wouldn't know you were anywhere near a city.

The Glenmore Reservoir is different from most of Calgary's other lakes, in that members of the public have access to it. Speaking for myself, I like it that way.

Since Glenmore Reservoir supplies drinking water, no motorboats are allowed on it. Only rowing boats and sailing boats are allowed. Hence there is no noise from boats' engines. I like that.

Another nice natural area is Fish Creek Provincial Park. It cuts an east-west swath through the far south part of Calgary. Again, members of the public can access it. However, it's nice to live in one of the communities that backs onto Fish Creek Provincial Park.

If you want a community that has a private lake, I've heard good things about Lake Sundance in the far southeast. One of the advantages of that neighbourhood is that it has elementary, junior high and senior high schools all in the same neighbourhood. Hence, once kids graduate from elementary school to junior high school and from junior high school to senior high school, they don't have to catch buses to schools in other communities. I personally don't think it's a problem for a kid to attend junior high school or senior high school in another suburb, but some parents like the idea of their kids being able to go all the way from kindergarten to grade twelve in their own area.

I recommend that you read through my post #4 in the thread entitled Hamptons / Tuscanny or Okotoks?. In that post I explained to grthespark the way in which I would do preliminary research into residential areas in Calgary.

If you know my methodology, you can apply it to any part of Calgary. To my mind, telling you whether a given neighbourhood is good or bad is like giving you a fish to eat. But telling you how to assess neighbourhoods is like teaching you how to fish. You probably would want to ask forum members' opinions of given neighbourhoods. You also would want to visit neighbourhoods in person. I believe visits to neighbourhoods are extremely important. However, my suggested methodology is a starting point.

thanks for the feedback. we definitely intend on visiting the areas- we're just laying the groundwork.

This Google gives info on the calgary lake communities, which are mostly in the SE, apart from Glenmore Reservoir (as Judy said) and Arbour lake, in the NW.

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=...ary+area&meta=

You might also take a look at Chestermere, which is a town on a lake about 20 minutes to the East of Calgary city limits.

I know quite a few people who have brought in Lake Chaperral, Midnapore, Mackenzie Lake and Sundance. All areas have great lakes and the people that live there seem to enjoy them.