Can anyone shed any light on what it is like in Peterborough, Housing, renting and buying, schools for an 11 year old, work I am a fabricator / welder. Anything else would be appreciated.

Why don't you have a look at this thread:-

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=658819

He has recently moved to Peterborough and perhaps if you PM him he could give you some insight into living/working conditions there. Personally it's an area I like, great for recreation and pleasant surrounding countryside.

http://www.peterboroughexaminer.com/

Hello Peter,

I have sent you a PM with a few bits of info I have found out so far....I have only been in Peterborough for 4 weeks myself, so I am very much in the settling in, and learning stage myself. My circumtances are also a little differnt to yours as I am single with no kids, so I suppose our priorities would be different. but house rentals do seem pretty freely available tho, I have been offered a couple of opportunities myself, but I am waiting to see how my new job goes for now.

I must say from what I have seen so far tho, I do like Peterborough, its not that big its characterless and unfriendly, but still big enough to have everything you could want, including a great live music scene, and importantly its on the edge of what I would call real Canada! (well part of it) Anyway as I said I have sent you a PM, hope that helps a little.


Cheers

Paul

Cheers Paul, I am sure I will be in touch soon.
We are landing at Toronto 4th April, can't wait.

I hope you don't work for their tourism office

agree, not a pretty town, but almost everything is here what you needed.

I find living near Peterborough is better than living in Peterborough. We only go there now if we have to, preferring to head to Cobourg, Campbellford, Brighton etc.

Yes Cobourg is a nice town. had a drive out there the other day, seems like it would be a very nice place to be in the summer months.

Think if I had the choice Id opt to live in Lakefield which is a lovely small town, and only 15mins away from Peterborough.

Just re read that....wrote that reply in a bit of a rush...didnt mean it to sound like that!! What I meant to say was that its NOT that big a town to extent of making it characterless and an unfriendly place to live, (as some big faceless cities are) but is still big enough to have everything you could want.

Apologies to any Peterborough residents reading!! slight gramatical error!

Paul

Yes, Lakefield is a nice place, good range of shops including a butchers and decent quality fruit and veggies in the IGA. When we first arrived in Canada we stayed with friends who live north of there.

If you are in need of company then you would be very welcome to visit us out in the sticks-though you may not want to as we are middle aged and dull and miserable. Do pm if you need any advice re shops, supplies etc.

Hi
We have been in Peterborough 2 and a half weeks now. We hope to move into our new house 1st May. We have two boys 7 and 4. 7 year old started school today and 4 year old will start tomorrow. We found it best to get our driving licences first, then opened a bank account, applied for credit card, got our SIN numbers, Healthcards, looked for house, found a house which then gave us the school. The school you choose depends on the area you live, unless you are prepared to take them every day, the class size is also a factor, if the class size goes over the allowed amount then if your child is out of area your child will be considered first to move or something like that.
We have found Peterborough is relatively easy to find your way around. When we first got here Peterborough appeared very grey in colour to us. This I suppose is because there has been snow around for a long time which has just cleared away. It is very dusty here at the moment, all cars are filthy, no point in cleaning it cos as soon as you've done it it will be covered again in no time.
We have had no luck on the job front yet. Resumes and applications are flying all over the place, not many in fact none have been looked at or considered as yet. The hunt goes on.

PS. We have found that the people in Peterborough are curious and friendly, although most of them want us to buy things from them.

I think you will find those traits in all Canadians, friendly & nosey until they realise that they cannot benefit from you in any way, then they tend to treat you with suspicion and distrust.

I used to live in Peterborough and liked it very much, still have a few friends living there that I keep in regular touch with, if I was ever to move back to Ontario I would seriously consider Peterborough

WoW Seriously all Canadians are distrustful if they do not benefit?? Thats amazing you know all of us. I really don't remember meeting you but I must have been too suspicious. we are not like that at all I would say generally speaking we like talking to all sorts and if you are from out of town we are a curious lot. Peterborough is a nice town with a laid back environment. You are not too far from Toronto so if you are hankering for some gridlock, road rage and pollution you can get there pretty fast straight up the ole 401. Hope you like it and have fun and if you want to move then go Canada is a pretty big place and whatever you are looking for its bound to turn up. cheers