Hey

My boyfriend and I have been saving for a while now to immigrate. We're both sick of the unfriendliness and over-crowding feel of the UK and want to broaden our horizons. We also have no desire whatsoever to raise our children in the UK.

So, the question is where to go. We're currently living in a cottage, in a village in Oxfordshire and apart from the chavs and weather and way of life it's perfect.

We both enjoy outdoor activities, such as water-sports (I surf, but also enjoy kayaking) and mountain biking and my boyfriend competes in triathlons.

We're leaning more towards Canada than Australia as when I was there last year it felt very far away and I got sick of it always being warm, i.e. no scarves and snow and Christmas needs to be cold ;o.

We're both in our early thirties and have approx $80k saved up for our move.

Ideally we want to be coastal/lakeside in a quiet village, but we need to be near somewhere that offers work for the boy (he's a web designer). I do childcare so I can prob get work anywhere.

Do any of you have any suggestions? We've been looking at sunshine Coast, Vancouver but I've heard the weather is much the same as it is in the UK. Ideally we want clear seasons, lovely hot summers and sunshine but cold in the winter. But I wonder if we'll be able to cope with the cold of the East coast?!?!?

I grew up in St Catherines, Toronto, Ontario, but remember very little of it as we moved back the UK when I was 9.

Thanks in advance

Surfergirl and boy

Sounds like Squamish would be ideal for you:

http://www.district.squamish.bc.ca/v...Where_to_Play/

Hi

Where much the same, early thirties, bitta cash and would like somewhere with a bit of social life without living in a city and near to a lake so we chose:

http://www.city.barrie.on.ca/Home.cf...M=0&MI=2&L1M=2

what about vancouver island ? i have friends that went there and said it was fantastic hth , we wont be moving near the water ! (i cant swim lol ) so cant give you any of my own advice , sorry x

Sounds similar to us! We're in Toronto at the moment but are looking for houses in Halifax - some surfing, lots of boating, great nightlife and the weather is seasonal! And the house prices are pretty reasonable.

Hi Surfergirl,

Just wanted to share some thoughts on location.

We moved to Powell River on the Sunshine Coast. We've been amazed by how mild and consistent the weather has been. We've had 2 days snow in the past year. The locals get upset if they can't wear shorts from March to October. Our distinctly wet months were November, December and April. The weather patterns are very localised, different from Vancouver, Sechelt (down the coast) and Comox (across on Vancouver Island).

The decision where you will live will be mainly based on where jobs can be found. Anything computer-based will probably mean you'll need to be within commuting distance of Vancouver or Victoria. However, their housing markets have been white-hot over the past few years, and money doesn't go far there these days.

Anywhere in BC is going to give you access to lakes and mountains for wonderful outdoor activities. The more remote you go, the less variety of other, more social, activities you'll find. But even in our town (It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here) we've managed to carve out an active social life.

The only downside of being nearer the cities is the level of development and congestion. Every available patch of land is being utilized around Vancouver as there simply isn't enough housing. Development has been forced out along the Fraser Valley, and the locals can have long commuting times into the city.

I realise our location is not for everybody. We are dependant on BC Ferries for access to anywhere else, but for my work, that's fine. A lot of people who live in Sechelt (further south down the Sunshine Coast) commute into Vancouver using the ferry. But I would get fed up with that pretty quick.

Anyway, that's my ramblings on the subject!

Good luck,

Sarah

Try the Okanagan in BC. Perfect place to live if you can find work with 4 distinct seasons and lake views. You can try and contact Dave at http://www.besthrsolutions.com/ in Kelowna. Dave runs an IT based employment agency and may be able to assist.

Paul

You may want to consider the Okanagan region, Kelowna in particular. We are about 400km east of Vancouver and we have a nice 4 season climate. It can get hot in the summer (up to 38'c!) and cold in winter (down to -20'c) but these extremes are short lived. We have over 2000 hours of sunshine and thus one is able to make the most of the huge variety of outdoor activities eg skiing, mountainbiking. Real estate is pricey, cheaper than Vancouver but still the 4th most expensive place to live in Canada but hey there's a reason for that. We have a gorgeous lake here for waterskiing etc and vinyards plus good arts facilities for which Kelowna has won awards. Kelowna has a poplulation of about 106,000 and is growing rapidly .
There is a growing IT community here - check out www.ostec.ca and have a gander at our kelowna group , I have a bunch of links on there that may prove useful. Pay Kelowna a visit, you won't know if its for you till you spend some time here. All the best...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Brits2Kelowna/

..also a great site in Vancouver is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Brits2Vancouver/

Pay Kelowna a visit, you won't know if its for you till you spend some time here. All the best...


My boyfriend and I have been saving for a while now to immigrate. We're both sick of the unfriendliness and over-crowding feel of the UK and want to broaden our horizons. We also have no desire whatsoever to raise our children in the UK.

So, the question is where to go. We're currently living in a cottage, in a village in Oxfordshire and apart from the chavs and weather and way of life it's perfect.

We both enjoy outdoor activities, such as water-sports (I surf, but also enjoy kayaking) and mountain biking and my boyfriend competes in triathlons.

We're leaning more towards Canada than Australia as when I was there last year it felt very far away and I got sick of it always being warm, i.e. no scarves and snow and Christmas needs to be cold ;o.

We're both in our early thirties and have approx $80k saved up for our move.

Ideally we want to be coastal/lakeside in a quiet village, but we need to be near somewhere that offers work for the boy (he's a web designer). I do childcare so I can prob get work anywhere.

Do any of you have any suggestions? We've been looking at sunshine Coast, Vancouver but I've heard the weather is much the same as it is in the UK. Ideally we want clear seasons, lovely hot summers and sunshine but cold in the winter. But I wonder if we'll be able to cope with the cold of the East coast?!?!?

I grew up in St Catherines, Toronto, Ontario, but remember very little of it as we moved back the UK when I was 9.

Thanks in advance

Surfergirl and boy[/QUOTE]

Hi
have you thought about Alberta ?. We live in Okotoks which is 20 mins south of Calgary and about a hours drive from the rockys which are gorgeous!. There is so much to do here you will never be bored. Even when it is -15 ( which it is today ) you can go snow boarding, skiing, Sledging, whatever. The mountains look lovely this time of year as well as in the summer when the lakes are the buest ive ever seen. Thjink about it !!!.

We're looking at the Comox Valley (Comox & Courtenay) on Vancouver Island, it's on the coast with lakes, mountains and ski resort of Mt Washington. We have 2 boys (3 & 6) and when we visited for a month last summer it seemed to tick all our boxes. My husband is a software developer and hopes to work remotely with work from the UK & Canada. We applied for our PR Jan 2005 and hope to be there this summer.

careful others on here will beat you down for making remarks like that

I concur with the others who have mentioned Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.... the place has lakes, mountains, vineyards and great ski hills nearby.... it also has a small IT industry.

Another place to check out would be Kamloops.... I don't know about the IT industry there though. I mention Kamloops because the real estate is cheaper than Kelowna.... but it also has good amenities.

I'll post some photos later.

Scenes of Kelowna and environs:

Kamloops is certainly less costly to purchase a house in then Kelowna, but prices have risen considerably in the past 2yrs, as people have looked for alternatives to the prices found in the Okanagan.

Kamloops has literally 100's of lakes on its doorstep, enjoys distinct seasons - hot, dry summers and cold winters. Snowfall isn't so great, and easy to cope with, but there's a great ski-hill (Sun Peaks) just 45mins drive north (the Austrians use it as their training base). It's also enjoys one of the driest climates in Canada - I honestly can remember the last time it rained, probably sometime back in October at a guess.

Populations now over 80,000, so there's no lack of amenities - we've never needed to go out of town for goods and services.

There are several IT companies - iCompass is a well known one. Depending on your b/friends skill set, perhaps they're worth a look?

Drop me a line if you'd like to know more about this area.

Rich

Yes, I visited Sun Peaks in the summer - fantastic place!

Kamloops has to be the hilliest city that I have ever seen - excellent mountain biking in the area too.

Trout fishing around Kamloops is some of the best in the world.

Here are some photos from Wells Gray Park - north of Kamloops: