milton ont
 

Would like to hear from anyone living in milton, its one of 3 places we are deciding upon and would find it useful to hear people's opinions. It seems a decent place with plenty to do and reasonable housing. Is there a vibrant main street, shopping etc and where are the best childfriendly areas to live. Any info would be great - we move in 3 weeks!!:ohmy:

Re: milton ont
 

What are the other options?

Re: milton ont
 

I worked in Brampton from 1989-1994 and my work took me to Milton at the time. It did have a 'main street'...vibrant isn't a word I would use to describe it. It did have a pub on the main street (name escapes me), where I watched some WC 1990 games (should have been at the project site).

The commercial focus of the place seems to be a lot of craptastic big box stuff on the south side of the 401 especially east of Hwy 25.

My knowledge since 1994 has been at 100 + km/h on the 401 heading to the in-laws.

Sorry I can't help more.

A five to ten minute drive SW and NW of Milton gets you into the Niagara Escarpment which has some nice properties (no new development there), but probably pretty expensive for property...dbd33 is the expert on ex-urbia rural living costs.

Re: milton ont
 

That's no help for Milton though. Milton's quintessentially suburban, "craptastic big box stuff" is spot on.

Re: milton ont
 

I was thinking if the OP wanted to live out of town on a country property you would be a good person to give them advice on land costs etc.

That big box hell along the 401 in Milton is particularly gruesome. The gaol looks better and better every time in terms of its visual appeal.

Re: milton ont
 

In asking the other options I was trying to get at whether it was a rural or urban area that would be preferred. I suppose we also need to know place(s) of work.

Re: milton ont
 

Looking at guelph, dundas and ancaster.

Re: milton ont
 

thanks for replies, i like the look of guelph due to the fact its further away from all the build up of highways, same as ancaster though this seems to be expensive. We need though fairly quick access to the highways for hubby's work, which is what also worried us about guelph. I guess we want it all!! Easy access but further out to get away from it all!! AHHHHH!

Re: milton ont
 

Oh and place of work is field sales, so all over!

Re: milton ont
 

If it was between Guelph, Dundas, Ancaster and Milton and workplace didn't matter etc, I'd choose them in the order I've written.

My inlaws live in Guelph (as a result, I wouldn't want to live there), but it is a very nice town, relatively vibrant downtown, university campus, nice restaurants, good schools, relatively crime free, and they managed to keep a Wal Mart out for ages. It probably gets more snow than Milton but not much more.

Guelph has a good pub with 'real' ale (Woolwich Arms) and some dodgy student dives (Albion) and lots of well established community groups.

Ancaster is probably the priciest of all of them.

Milton has a bit of an identity crisis in that it has lots of new houses full of people priced out of Metalsauga and the western GTA, who don't have much of an attachment to the place.

Re: milton ont
 

From the Sleemans brewery or Stone Road Mall in Guelph it is 5 -10 minutes to the 401.

Re: milton ont
 

I don't know enough about Ancaster or Dundas to comment. I'm sitting in Guelph.

IMO, Guelph and Milton are very different. Milton is part of the concrete mass surrounding Toronto, big box stores, chain restaurants, tract housing. It's hard to know when you're in Milton. Guelph is a university town with lots of restaurants and bars, microbreweries and a mixture of older housing as well as subdivisions. There's a cathedral in the middle which serves as a landmark.
Milton is, just about, within commuting distance to Toronto, Guelph isn't really.

Re: milton ont
 

The Albion offers deep fried pickles. For that we can overlook its shortcomings.

Re: milton ont
 

Oh, i knew i was right about Guelph, its been my fave all along, from what i've seen about it!! You've got me, now you just need to say that you can get to highways easily and my hubby will be got too! We've seen the woolich arms and it looked a good place to head to after a day's house hunting! Ta!

Re: milton ont
 

And if you're in the market for some 'deep fried' pickles, the Albion is your place (it is in the shadow of the cathedral on the edge of downtown). IIRC there are couple of places in town for a curry (Curry in a Hurry springs to mind). The fact that there is a university in town tends to bring in bands to town that would not occur in Milton.

The Hanlon Expressway is at most 10 minutes drive from Stone Road in Guelph and the highway on the east side of town through Puslinch to the 401 takes about the same amount of time.

Good luck in your search and future move. Are you wanting to buy new in Guelph or get an old period property.

Re: milton ont
 

I haven't been in there in ages...is the draught still cheap.

Re: milton ont
 

Must be, I bought a strange mixed round including pickles and the total was negligible. Odd lunch, we'd aimed to go to Friends in Our Kitchen but there was no room so we went for pickles instead.

Re: milton ont
 

not sure yet, want to be in a neighbourhood where the kids can play out safely and get to local parks etc, whether this means a new estate i'm not sure, but just looking forward to getting there and getting on with it all! Thanks for all the advise, has been very helpful!

Re: milton ont
 

I don't know what your budget is, nor what houses in Guelph cost, but there's a perfectly lovely older neighbourhood with parks and public tennis courts within staggering distance of the Woolwich. St George's Park is one of the parks.

Re: milton ont
 

ohhh, now my hubby would definately be agreeable to that! I will have a look into that area, it seems though i may be totally wrong but house prices don't seem to be too high in comparison to other areas i've looked at.
Its like having a mini encyclopedia with the wealth of info people can offer on here, it makes the whole research process a lot easier! TA!

Re: milton ont
 

Does this page help.

http://www.homelifeguelph.com/proper...46/-1/-1/0/Any

If I had to live in southern Ontario again, it would be either Guelph or Waterloo for me. Good luck

Re: milton ont
 

Hepburn Avenue is a street in the middle of the bit I'm thinking of. I expect mapquest can find that.

Re: milton ont
 

We live in Milton.

It's definitely a bedroom community...there isn't really much here apart from houses.

We have a huge Walmart, a Superstore, and that's pretty much it in terms of shopping. We do all of our shopping in Mississauga.

Personally speaking, the longer I live in Milton the more the major advantages/disadvantages I see.

We're in the "new" area - every street looks identical, every house is cookie-cutter. We bought a semi, because we couldn't afford a detached when we first moved over and jobs weren't solid, but even that was over $300,000, which is ridiculous when you compare it to other areas. We have a postage-stamp sized garden, and have had to become pretty close to our neighbours, because the houses are all on top of each other. We were in a similar living environment in England, but the house in England was significantly more solid (about the same age as the one we're in here).

Milton's location is good - we can get to the airport in 30 minutes and Toronto in 40 if there isn't a ton of traffic. We both now work in Cambridge, and it's 35 minutes door to door. There are a ton of conservation areas around, which we enjoy going to, and the school up the road is supposed to be one of the top schools in Canada (we don't have kids, so can't comment on that).

My general feelings about Milton...we don't love it or hate it. It's just kind of "eh"...

Re: milton ont
 

I know that moving is a big hassle in life but have you considered Cambridge. The 'Galt' part is quite nice especially west of the river. The downtown is somewhat alive.

Re: milton ont
 

Yes, we know. The house prices in Milton have just dropped down to just below what we paid 2 years ago, so we're going to ride the market out for a little while yet. We're not in any great rush to move, we go to TO a lot for concerts etc., and do like the proximity, even if the town is a little blah.

Funnily enough, it takes us the same amount of time to get to work in Cambridge than it does for people who live IN Cambridge to get to the office :)

Re: milton ont
 

Drove along Hepburn last night. Two rather grubby small kids playing beside the road, ball hockey game in progress on the road, bald man walking dog with the superior air of a professor of divinity. Property ranging from literal mansion to terraced houses in disrepair. Short walk over the river bridge to ice hockey arena, theatre, music and ballet lessons, pubs and restaurants. I've sold meself.

Re: milton ont
 

hi,

it's very exciting to read how your plans are unfolding. i'm a reporter at the toronto star,

Re: milton ont
 

Please direct all media requests through the "media request" area.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=74

Thanks

Re: milton ont
 

We can tell that from your punctuation.

Re: milton ont
 

But, so long as we have you here, stop phoning my bloody cell phone. I don't want your illiterate rag, I don't support affirmitive action for immigrants to the extent of employing columnists who don't speak English and I don't want to pay for your relentless sales pitches. Respect the Don't Call list, why doncha?

Re: milton ont
 

surely you mean capitalization?

Re: milton ont
 

No, the dangling comma. Granted though, the lack of capitalisation is insulting to the reader.

Re: milton ont
 

Good point. My apologies.

Re: milton ont
 

Which is more offensive: a dangling comma, or a dangling participle?

;)

Re: milton ont
 

If you bother to read the small print the do not call list does not apply to newspapers and organisations you have a preexisting relationship with...

Re: milton ont
 

The dangling comma was a result of my edit by the way. Good rant though...:unsure:

Re: milton ont
 

Loathing Rosie DiManno's Burchill knock off column over the course of years does not constitute a preexisting relationship.

Re: milton ont
 

In that case I should have initially gone after the txt spk.

Re: milton ont
 

Perhaps not, but as far as the gov is concerned, the Star is still a newspaper, so the DNC list doesnt apply to its telimarketing....a serious flaw in the list if you ask me.

Re: milton ont
 

But where's the pre-existing relationship? I don't think I've ever bought a copy.