darkin

I know this is a completely subjective question.

I'm finding it hard to find a city description of London, Ontario or Edmonton, Alberta that doesn't have a ridiculous load of facts. As we're not sure which place we might end up in, I need to know about both.

I tried using the search function on here and the city guide, but neither helped me out.

So,

here are my priorities for a place to live: (obviously affordable housing, safe, etc.)

But specifically,

- I need lots of places to walk my dog, in relative peace and pretty area's.

- culture. Art museums, cafe's, theatre and dance.

- Artistic community

And for future, we need somewhere we could bring up kids too, so decent schools.

I suppose I'm having trouble picturing how the contrast between the countryside we get in Surrey, but also the ability to easily go to an art gallery etc relates to the huge spaces in Canada. How long, realistically, would I have to drive in London and Edmonton to get to each end of this spectrum?

Also, what sort of cost are we talking to buy a low end 3 bed house somewhere in between these two extremes, and somewhere safe too?

I would love to hear peoples opinions of these two places, based on these requirements. If you're in either of these two places, I'd love to speak to you.

Auld Yin

I don't think either London or Edmonton is going to meet your requirements particularly as it relates to culture, art museums etc. For culture, art museums, cafe's, theatre and dance, artistic community of any size you will need to look at Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.
You are not going to get anything remotely resembling the Surrey countryside. You are not permitted in Canada to wander/hike over just anyone's land. I think the landscape around London is somewhat softer than that around Edmonton where it considerably more rugged.
You should plan/execute a reccie here to get some sense of what it's truly like.
No doubt there will be BEs along to dispute my comments.

Piff Poff

I agree with Auld Yin, especially on the art and culture side of things, there isn't too much of it in Alberta, there is some, but not lots.

As for walking, I can speak of my local area and I assume (perhaps wrongly) that most towns and cities will have similar facilities, we have lots and lots of walking trails in residential and wooded areas. You can however only let your dogs off leash at off leash parks and sometimes they are just a barren piece of land that can't be built on for whatever reason.

cheeky_monkey

Intersetingly i lived in London for 2 months when i first landed before ending up in Edmonton with my job.

Edmonton is more isolated than london but is twice the size..both are easy to get around when driving esp compared with British citites..neither are particularly blessed with cultural attractions Edmonton does have a big art centre in Churchill Sq though.

Edmonton does have lots of parks and cycle ways especially around the river with lots of walks and nature trails more so than London.

As for countryside Edmonton is in the prairies so fairly flat and uninspiring but you can reach the Rockies in 3 hours...London is close to the great lakes but again the surrounding to the city is flat and bland. They say London is the city of trees but i think there are far more trees in Edmonton.

I have 3 kids and the schools are decent if a little old "school" which isnt a bad thing.

I would say both are safe citites if you compare them with citites in the UK of a similar size...esp petty crime and vandalism.

If your looking for arts and culture that compares to the UK you will struggle in most cities in Canada.

Aviator

We came from Surrey UK and Canada is not even close to anywhere is the UK I am familiar with.

Countryside in the UK is often small farms and managed woodland, in Canada some in provincial and national parks or lots of wilderness. Other than in urban areas places to walk require driving to. Many places do not allow dogs off leash.

Auld Yin is pretty mush spot on. I would suggest don't even compare or try and replicate what you are leaving behind (if you truly want to immigrate).

The things you describe you are looking for do not really exist to the same extent in Canada as Europe. This is in my view part of Canada's appeal.

If you have not been here, it would be a really good idea to do so, you may be in for a really big culture shock otherwise.

Steve_P

I would concur with all except Auld Yin's comment about the countryside around Edmonton.

I would hardly call it rugged. From a UK standpoint I would call it flat and boring.

el_richo

I think these pictures some it up

Edmonton


Surrey

ireland2canada

Is that an Easter egg?

Steve_P

Nice try but the egg is not in Edmonton.

It's in Vegreville approximately 70 miles east of Edmonton.

Steve_P

Yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegreville_egg

el_richo

An egg or a suppository near an RV/Pykie park looking at the background.

el_richo

Bloody Google

ireland2canada

That's fantastic! Canada does random massive stuff so well. Commendable.

jericho

Or perhaps this one, which is actually Edmonton...

el_richo

Mine was more poking fun at the art/architecture part