pinkkristen

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!!

dbd33

What are the other options?

clynnog

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.

dbd33

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

clynnog

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.

dbd33

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.

pinkkristen

Looking at guelph, dundas and ancaster.

pinkkristen

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!

pinkkristen

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

clynnog

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.

clynnog

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

dbd33

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.

dbd33

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

pinkkristen

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!

clynnog

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.