Hi Judy

How long have you been living in Canada?

What are the property prices like in Vernon?

I am trying to get a gut feeling for the weather, how long would you say the snow settles for during the winter?

I was just beginning to get a good feeling about Salmon Arm but you have unnerved me, not that I am complaining, I am very grateful for the feedback.

Yes I think you should be able to find a suitable property quite easily in Salmon Arm with only a couple of acres - we were looking for between 100 and 200 acres and that was difficult to find.

Yes I spent a lot of time in Vernon - I used to really love it there, but it is so busy these days and growing at a rate of knots. Traffic was getting bad the last time we were there - I don't do traffic queues! There are just tonnes and tonnes of new subdivisions sprouting up everywhere in Vernon and around. If you are interested in the Vernon area - you could look in BX and anywhere around Silver Star Ski Resort. Vacation homes are probably in demand in those areas. Just check MLS for prices. I have no idea how much properties up there are going for nowadays, but I would think you would be looking at upwards of $600,000 for a home with maybe an acre or two. Of course you would have to check the planning regulations to make sure that you could build the vacation homes.

I don't think any people were killed in the fire - but if you google it you will find tonnes and tonnes of photos and information about it. It was a hell of a fire!! When you visit you will see the devastation that it caused - still visible even though the fire happened way back in 1998. They managed to keep it from engulfing the town which had to be evacuated and it swept right around the town from Fly Hill around the perimeter, jumped Salmon Valley Road and up Mount Ida. It pretty much went down the valley also, along Yankee Flats Road and down into Falkland. I did as much research on forest fires as I did on bears!! Can't remember all my findings now though. There is also a Flood Zone in Salmon Arm which you should familiarise yourself with.

Forest fires are just a part of what BC is - they happen all the time over there. I'm sure you must have heard of the recent one on Okanagan Mountain at Kelowna? Fires occur every year and they are just something that you have to get your head around.

A very general overview of Salmon Arm (check out the links at the bottom)

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

(I just lurve wikipedia!)

Clare

Sounds like a pub on Dartmoor

Cheers

Hi Tiaribbon

Why 100 - 200 Acres?

What drew you to Ontario?

Is the weather much colder?

Thanks for the warning on the flood fire

I did mean to say flood zone honest, just fighting my 2.1/2 year old daughter away from the keyboard, she has a habit of pressing the escape button.

This is a copy of my response to another thread going on in here:

"Our listed Destination was Vernon in the Okanagan;
reasons for:

Stunning scenery
Beautiful and inexpensive properties
Friendly and relaxed people
Mild winters, nice summers

Changed our minds for these reasons:

5 hours from major airport and decent sized city
Started to find the scenery boring - looks the same in every season
Sick of pine trees - no deciduous trees
Dodgey and unstable economy
Acreage was easy to find - but on 200 acre properties, most had only a few usable acres as the rest were covered in trees or the side of a mountain.
Couldn't find the right farm.


Found Ontario and our area in particular and fell in love for these reasons:

Close proximity to a major airport and large cities
Absolutely beautiful scenery
Deciduous trees and lots of rivers
Changing seasons - countryside looks different almost every month
Proper acreage - all land usable
Stable economy
Friendly community
and most importantly found the farm!!"

Yes the winters are much colder in Ontario. We needed a large acreage to farm and we just couldn't find this sort of workable acreage in BC. I do love BC and would certainly consider moving there at some point in the future.....as a potential retirement location. The economy worried me and although the economy in my area of Ontario is perhaps not as lucrative as it possibly could have been in the Okanagan, at least it is stable and that is what I was looking for to run a business. I am not keen on economic fluctuations.

Morning Tia,

How is the weekend going out there, got any rain last night? We were driving back from Markham ontario, and got hit by heavy rain that turned into snow last night.

It wasn't a good driving experience :scared:

Miserable here! Rained a bit yesterday (we went to the cinema though so didn't matter) and then was dry until about 8pm. Still drizzling now. No snow yet though and actually it is quite mild outside so I would be surprised if we get any.....cold inside though LOL!! Please don't send any more yucky weather our way .

LOL....it was around 8pm that the rain started yesterday, we had been out all day, house hunting, and we finally got a place, closing on it next year summer.

Ooh fantastic!! How exciting - next summer will be here before you know it! Will PM you.