dollface

Thank you, you are restoring my faith! I knew Oakville had alot of trails etc I love that idea - we currently live on the doorstep of the TransCanada trail and don't want to loose that feeling of space and nature.

Souvenir

I don't want to offend tilly but I have to put in a misleading post alert here.

There is only one Provincial park in the Oakville area. Bronte Creek. It's not out in the wilds, it isn't very big and it gets very crowded. Any patch of grass over four foot square is called a park in Oakville.

A path that runs more than 50 yards through trees is a trail. If you add a ditch to that, it's a ravine trail.

If you are anticipating anything like Gatineau Park, you will be sadly disappointed. It just isn't there. Smokey Hollow in Waterdown is nice but there isn't much else, as far as I know.

dbd33

Bronte Creek is the site of the annual British Car Day, loads of vehicles park there as it`s more field than wilderness.

dollface

Any other Oakvillians out there who wish to throw their tuppence (or should I be saying 2 cents !worth in? it would be appreciated

Oakvillian

I'll wade into this one, if I may... as my username suggests I live in Oakville, and have done since the middle of 2006.

Generally I agree with Souvenir and BC15. The super-expensive stuff is in the southeast, there are some lovely areas south of the QEW along the lakeshore to Bronte, and as you head north you tend to get smaller lots, newer houses and younger trees.

When we were looking we saw a number of houses in the northwest quadrant - upper Glen Abbey and West Oak Trails - that seemed enormous but were on tiny lots with very little mature greenery anywhere in sight, and not much in the way of public infrastructure. For us, there were too many negatives in the mix - the quality of some of the new-build construction (fit & finish in particular) seemed pretty ropey, too much plastic pomposity in the architecture ("classical" porticos and out-of-proportion pillars & corbels everywhere - although as remarked elsewhere at least there's a bit of variety in the designs of houses), the lack of trees, the tiny pocket-handkerchief gardens... we ended up in College Park, south of Upper Middle and west of Trafalgar, which seemed to offer a good compromise between lot size (ours is just over 50x150), maturity (developed in the mid 1980s and backing onto ravine land), convenience (for buses, the GO station, shops, schools, etc) and, crucially of course, affordability.

Best bet is to decide what's important to you and get a good agent to shortlist a few properties for you in different areas - I can highly recommend the one we used if you're interested.

Quick word on the subject of schools... there has been a lot of discussion in the local press recently and a few heated debates at public meetings as the Halton District School Board reorganises catchment areas to reflect changing demographics. I would certainly do some research on local schools in the area you choose - there are some schools that have reached maximum capacity and overspilt into portable classrooms, but this is likely to change and may alter the equation for walk/drive/bus to school. The French Immersion track is also undergoing some restructuring, with at least a couple of schools to my knowledge being reclassified either as dual-track or being moved entirely into the FI stream. As to the quality, I've heard very few bad things about any public schools in Oakville, and glowing reports about many.

Souvenir

Ravine? It's a ditch and you know it is.

dollface

Thank you Oakvillian, very helpful. I take it you still enjoy living in College Park?

Oakvillian

mostly agreed - I don't know Gatineau Park but "parks" in Oakville can be anything from a patch of grass with a swingset on it to the Provincial park at Bronte Creek (which, while not exactly wilderness, is a lot more than the grassy carpark described by dbd).

The trail system is pretty good, though, if it's walks you want. The trails up alongside 16 mile creek, in particular, take in great swaths of woodland to the extent that you really wouldn't know you were in the middle of a town. You can walk for a couple of hours and see very few signs of civilisation (apart from the manicured paths, of course...)

Oakvillian

the one behind our house is definitely more than a ditch, I'd say - if I were feeling lyrical I'd probably call it a brook or a rill - but I'll grant that "ravine" is too strong. I've fallen into the local vernacular - when we first arrived we wondered at all the ravines on the map that we couldn't see on the ground.

dbd33

There's a play area, a barn thing with rustic reenactments, maple syrup making, that sort of thing. It's a nice enough place but it's essentially a suburban park, whereas Gatineau is a wilderness park near a city.

Oakvillian

yes, absolutely. I think, as is so often the case, that has at least as much to do with the neighbours as the neighbourhood. If we won the 6/49 we'd probably do up the house a bit, but I don't think we'd want to move.

BC15

www.oakvilletrails.com/trails.htm
There are plenty of places for wilderness in Ontario, but if you and your family want a hike through interesting places, you'll find lots here. dollface, the best advice is come and explore, have a look at all the areas, see for yourself. Property prices are actually not that bad unless you want to live on Lakeshore, Old Oakville or East Oakville. Check www.realtor.ca. It too has aerial shots. Good luck.

dollface

Well that sounds good! we have driven around Oakville (only been there once) so didn't get to all the areas. College Park sounds nice. We currently have a bigyard - a bit smaller than yours just. Inground pool and still spave for the kids to play. They are only 6 & 8 so still need space to run around.

Schools are very important to us so I have printed off the Grade 3/6 testing results for Oakville, some schools fair high, others are way below average for reading, writing and Math. What are the schools in college park area public, non FI??

dollface

Thank you BC15

Souvenir

And a bloody sight bigger.