ExpatMark

We are considering moving to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia for a year, but have never been there. Obviously, we stumbled upon the "Worst Place to Live in Canada" articles, and some of the threads on here too. I saw that @cookie has moved out of town, and was one of its biggest boosters.

Are there any current residents of New Glasgow that could tell us a bit about the actual experience of living there?

We have two young kids, so I guess crime and break-ins would be our biggest fears. The strange thing is that, other than these "worst' surveys and articles, the town seems rather lovely and community-minded.

christmasoompa

Hi, welcome to BE.

Just checking, but you're Canadian citizens? Or already have a visa in place that will allow you to move?

ExpatMark

Yeah, Canadian and returning. I wanted to ask here because there had been active threads here about New Glasgow, and members seemed willing to share their experiences.

christmasoompa

Perfect.

Members are indeed more than happy to help if they can. Not sure off the top of my head if there is anybody on the forum around there, but I'm sure if there is they'll be happy to share their views.

Good luck with the move.

Howefamily

HI, I really like New Glasgow. Cookie should be along soon, I have paged her :-)

Cookie

Cookie

BristolUK

It certainly attracted me when I was looking to move to NS. The circumstances making me look at moving to NS changed and I didn't need to go but New Glasgow was my target 100%.

ExpatMark

Thanks for the help. Howefamily! We are looking at places for rent all over NS, and in Halifax as well. But one of the houses we really like is in NG. I'm not sure we are going to be able to get it, but thought we'd do our homework just in case. Are you living in NG, or just know it from visiting?

ExpatMark

Hi, Cookie. Thanks so much for getting back to us. As I explained in my response to Howefamily, we are currently looking at a house in NG that's available for rent. We are trying to lock down a place before we arrive (in a couple of weeks), and we wanted to get a sense of NG as a community. Our criteria, whether for Halifax, a smaller town, or something even more remote are quite specific, so it's hard to find the right place. Although we'll have a car, because my wife doesn't drive (at least as yet) we are looking for places that are within 1-1.5 km of a grocery and drug store, so that we can walk. This isn't really the case for a lot of suburban and even urban places. Because Canadians drive more than walk, and because so many stores are on highways in bigger shopping centres, finding a walkable solution is hard. We've been looking at Chester, Guysborough, Bedford and downtown Halifax. As I said, we're not sure we are going to be able to get the place we are looking at in NG, but from a distance, it looks perfect for us. Thanks so much for your help.

Siouxie

I don't drive either - so I get a cab to the grocery / other stores that aren't very close by. Your wife won't be wanting to walk when it's -30c (or lower) and snowing up a blizzard, particularly with young children! Where is it you will be working? You may want to look at somewhere that is within easy commuting distance, particularly during winter. I've always found padmapper and rent faster to be useful for finding what else is in the area (for available rentals) - these links are for Halifax, but you can just change the town/city and any other filters)https://www.rentfaster.ca/ns/halifax/ https://www.padmapper.com/apartments...56559,44.64605
You might find walk score handy: https://www.walkscore.com/live-more/canada/

Hope you find something that suits ... good luck

ExpatMark

Oh, great. Now that you've revealed the meteorological prognosis, maybe she'll get (ahem) cold feet.

BristolUK

None of my family here drives either and that was a plus for New Glasgow. Weather and groceries are things to consider when walking.

We have a good bus service here. I don't know for New Glasgow but it's small so taxis may not be much. Most taxi rides for us here are $7 to $10 on the meter. They can add $1 for each extra passenger but they rarely do.

The bus is $2.50 per journey, (about $2 with punch passes) so when there are three of you, it's very tempting to pay an extra couple of $$ and go door to door by taxi when the weather is not good for walking to and waiting at the bus stop.

Another consideration for New Glasgow for me was getting around by bike. Distances seemed short and not too hilly.

Howefamily

Hi, no, I just drive through it when going to the beach there. Melmerby Beach is my most favourite and worth the drive for us from Elmsdale, which is near the airport. I always like the look of NG when I am there.

julescg26

Oh Cookie - you forgot Pictou County Pizza! It's worth living there just for the pizza!!

I've visited NG a few times and have enjoyed my time there - the Jubilee was a lot of fun - I would research jobs though before you move, that would be my biggest worry.