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I'm new here Looking for a great place to live in the UK (probably not much of a chance finding this kind of thing there), US or Canada, with pretty weird requirements. Hoping someone here lives in my family's version of paradise and will vouch for it!
My husband, children and I got together and came up with the following:
- No more than 2hrs away from a major city (500,000+).
- Availability of land (20 acres or more), prices not too important
- Decent ability to grow things there, ie not desert
- In or close to a town with conveniences, ie grocery stores, cultural things
- Close to a major body of water (one of the great lakes or the ocean)
- Experiences all four seasons distinctly
- Considerable rain and snow, my whole family prefers cold weather and would love to live somewhere with a lot of rain (800-900mm and up) and at least some snow
- Not hick country. Preferably somewhere liberal to middle of the road.
I know these are pretty weird, but thanks in advance for any input!
There's tons of places that match your criteria, but we need some more specifics. Do you want to be able to grow fruit trees? Because many parts of Canada are too cold to support most fruit trees, you would need to stick to southern Ontario for the most part, especially the Niagara Peninsula. I haven't seen very many orchards in other parts of Canada such as eastern Ontario or anywhere in Quebec for that matter.
There's tons of places that match your criteria, but we need some more specifics. Do you want to be able to grow fruit trees? Because many parts of Canada are too cold to support most fruit trees, you would need to stick to southern Ontario for the most part, especially the Niagara Peninsula. I haven't seen very many orchards in other parts of Canada such as eastern Ontario or anywhere in Quebec for that matter.
If by "orchard" you mean apple orchards, then there are lots in eastern Ontario and southern Quebec. Also in the Maritimes.
But other types of fruit trees are a lot rarer. There are even very few fruit trees (ie peaches and grapes) other than apples in the Toronto area, which isn't really that far from Niagara when you think about it.
Acajack, I forgot about the apples since they aren't really my favorite fruit... but when it comes to a variety of different fruit trees you pretty much have to be in Niagara for that. Niagara has cherries, grapes, peaches, plums, pretty much any fruit that grows in the Northeast U.S.
The OP should consider any of the communities in southern Ontario especially the lake Erie communities and the Niagara region. London, ON would be a good choice if he wants a lot of snow. I would also suggest the Thousand Islands region, Gananoque, not too terribly far from Ottawa and Montreal, no access to a large lake or ocean but the St. Lawrence is beautiful and Lake Ontario isn' too far off, plenty of land for farms but the climate is colder there.
Funny, when I think of orchards I automatically think of apples (and generally only apples). Probably because everywhere I have always lived, the only fruit trees around have always been apple trees!
Ah, see, for me it was always peaches... the biggest orchards around here (mid-Atlantic region of U.S.) are peaches and that's what you always see sold on the roadside stands.
There are more peaches in Niagara than apples. Apples like heavy siols and so do grapes so the grapes have won the battle as the fruit of choice for the farmers. Light soils are good for peaches
and cherries and you can't make any money growing cherries so it's peaches and apricots in Niagara.
Now, there are areas in BC that meet the OP's criteria. Up in the mountains near Vancouver for instance. Pemberton BC meets them to a tee. You are still only 2 hrs to Van and yet it snows a lot. Without looking it up I would guess 20 ft or so. It's a freat agricultural area at the bottom of the mountains. Tons of wildlife. Bears, lions, elk and moose, deer, mountain sheep and goats. It's as liberal as it gets with a lot of hippies around and weed everywhere.
You really like rain? Maybe try somewhere around Kamploops BC.
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Looking for a great place to live in the UK (probably not much of a chance finding this kind of thing there), US or Canada, with pretty weird requirements. Hoping someone here lives in my family's version of paradise and will vouch for it!
