Raymate

Hi,

In the UK right now but start the process soon for moving to Canada to be with my Canadian wife (in three months she will be) at the moment she lives in "East York, Toronto" and I live in a small village in the country side in the UK.

Once we are settled we shall move and get a house, can anyone suggest areas in and around Toronto that are like Villages, on my trips to Toronto I have not seen places like this (must admit before I wasnt looking) I'm sure small town and villages must be near by.

The only thing we need is access to the TTC or at least good links into Toronto for work. As we will both be working in the downtown area.

Right now I over look a farmer field so I have a green view, again something like this would be great or I guess over looking a golf course would do at least they will not build on it. We like country walks so something with places to walk near by.

Any ideas of areas with subway links.

Cheers

dbd33

I fear that you labour under some misconceptions about Toronto.

The city is surrounded by mile upon mile of ghastly urban sprawl; to get from East York to a farmer's field you have to drive for an hour north. I do this on weekends and it's a dispirting experience. Up the 400 highway there are nasty little box houses as far Canada's Wonderland. Wonderland is, of course, a monument to the ugliness of commerce. Up the 404 squalid developments reach to about Bloomington Sideroad. There are "villages" such as Schomberg and Palgrave an hour or so out but they're the immaculate manicured variety of village where lawn jockeys are still acceptable and one is never sure how much lawn is grass and how much polymer.

Toronto is an ugly city and one that it's difficult to escape, that hour's drive assumes leaving before six, it's several hours on a Friday night and even this weekend we saw a queue of cars a little over a mile long on the highway trying to get into a service area.

If you want a view of something green, you'll either have to have a long commute or settle for an older part of town with a park or a cemetary. That or move into a downtown high rise with a view of the island.

skigordi

Don't forget Toronto is a very large city (5th largest in NA??) and as a result does have a lot of urban sprawl.....however as usual dbd feels the need to spread his misery to others and also gives what I would consider an unfair view of the city and the area.

I came here from a small village just outside Bedford which was picture postcard material. I now live 45km north of Toronto in a small town considerably smaller than Bedford and closer to the city than I was to London. There is lots of countryside near us, buses and trains to the city and yet all the facilities you may want. The pretty villages are going to be hard to find but there are still lots of nice places to live, just open your mind to the different lifestyle and countryside you will see here.
For reference..the traffic here can be bad but isn't close to what you expect in the south east of England or even Bedford (try getting along the Brmham Road at 8am!).

Gordon

iaink

Whats a "lawn jockey"?

Oi, leave Wonderland alone, its a lovely place to visit for the day in the summer. Wouldnt want to live near there though.

Cant think of anything too vilagey within the transit system area myself either. Maybe some bits in the extreme East or West?

dbd33

http://www.lawnjockey.com/

dbd33

Where, in the vicinty of Aurora, is there a place that might be thought to resemble a village ?

Raymate

Thought it was going to be easy to find a quiet place around Toronto, what a small world I'm in Elstow so you may know what I'm trying to find in the way of countryside. Cardington, cople, and Old warden is my waling places I like to go to. Something like this would be great, anywhere like that?

Not a big fan of city I stareted life in London and moved away, now been in Elstow for 28 years

Guess what I want most is a quiet place with some sort of view.

Thanks for all your replys

Souvenir

I think it would be more accurate to say that he was being realistic rather than miserable. From what I saw of the GTA during the four years that I lived there I'd say his description was pretty reasonable. Toronto has a face that only a mother could love and most of the "surrounding" countryside is drab, at best.

iaink

If only there was somewhere like old warden around...How I miss trips to the shuttleworth collection with my dad. (my folks live in Pavenham)


Is she not prepared to move further out from TO? There are some very villagy places once you get away from the GTA.

I dont know that Toronto proper is ugly. The burbs are typical N America drabness, but the downtown is interesting with the impressive skyscrapers, CN tower and places like Roy Thompson Hall. I wouldnt call it ugly. I quite like it really. And the islands are a nice get away across the water.

Still, its a bit misleading to describe Elstow as a "village near London", so perhaps the question should be to find a small town near Toronto (like Bedford is to London) and then find a village near that town.

Raymate

Aurora, Ontario is near Richmond Hill, I get married in Richmond Hill in three months

skigordi

Where in my text did I say there was one?

skigordi

Afraid you won't find the same here..history, climate and development means they just didn't happen. If you need to be within reach of the GTA then you need to think differently...you won't find an Old Warden....but there are still lots of nice, quiet and safe place to live with access to the countryside.

Souvenir

Let's not confuse village with pretty. A small rural community in Ontario might be considered a village in that it is small and surrounded by fields. That doesn't make it picture-postcard stuff. With few exceptions, such as the old bit of Quebec City, Canada doesn't do "pretty" architecture. The emphasis is more on impressive feats of engineering, such as the Lion's Gate Bridge, CN Tower, Skydome and Pamela Anderson.

dbd33

That's what the original poster wanted so I thought you must have one in mind. Reading your post more closely you seem to be agreeing that the GTA is ugly but saying that it's ok if you're open to a different lifestyle. Unfortunately, I don't think the original poster wants to a lifestyle of sub-divisions and big box stores, even if you're comfortable with it.

He could look at Bethesda, that's a bit villagey and not too far from anywhere. Around Mulmur is much nicer but too far to commute to a nine to five job.

Raymate

Didnt say it was near London, it's 52 miles from London. I started life in London then moved to Elstow.

Finding a picture postacard is not going to happen. But finding a small town like Bedford may be doable.

All I want is, safe, quiet, good transport. Bit of green with places to walk. We like to walk and cycle and i'm a photographer (mostly landscapes)