City folk are moving to the country
CBC says there’s a trend for city folk to move to the country – and if you have big retirement savings or a very portable job, it may look attractive right now. A La Presse writer gives an idyllic description of decamping to the countryside.
One woman cited by CBC is already beginning to realize that living in the country will be quite different come wintertime.
I wonder what happens if families move out there, and growing kids are suddenly faced with not having anything to do but look at a field all day, and needing to be driven anywhere they want to go. A Quebec study shows teenagers are already more idle in front of screens with the pandemic – and I’m sure it isn’t only teenagers.
Ian 11:52 on 2020-08-02 Permalink
In my experience the country was a great place to be a little kid but kind of dreary as a teenager. One of my friends moved to Saint-Sauveur about 10 years ago – it was great, he had lots of space, woods in his backyard, lots of nature for his kid to experience, a short drive from Montreal… and lost his job when winter hit because he got snowed in too much. Even if you’re telecommuting be aware that in most rural areas there isn’t cable so if you nee high speed internet you will need satellite and part of that is getting up on your roof after every snow to make sure it is free of ice and snow or you won’t get a good signal. It will also work poorly if there is rain or snow or even too much cloud cover. Even cell signal can be iffy, there are parts of even Mont Rigaud where you don’t get a cell signal.
That said, most people that I know who have a cottage or access to one and can work remotely have been there most of the summer. I won’t lie, I wish I was one of them. One of the nice things about living in Quebec is that there are so many lakes a short drive from the city that you can get a decent but smallish 3-season cottage for well under 150k, and when you look at the prices of places to live in town I can see the temptation to move to the country for good… but it’s a 20 minute drive to get milk, assuming the roads are open.
GC 13:52 on 2020-08-02 Permalink
I find it odd that they included Lemieux. Considering she started looking for farms a year ago and “sold her house in Montreal just before confinement measures were put in place.” Surely they could have found someone who was more representative of the headline?
Uatu 14:58 on 2020-08-02 Permalink
Just move out to st. Bruno or st. Hilaire. Close enough to the city but you can still walk around in the woods or hike up the hills. The country is nice but it gets old real fast and once you’re in your teens you want to get a car and get the hell outta town like me and most of my friends who grew up on the south shore.
Ian 08:25 on 2020-08-03 Permalink
I’ve wondered about that area of the south shore – is it walkable? In the sense of being able to walk to a dep, or a restaurant, or a post office, or a library?
I’ve only been to a couple of further out places that weren’t but is it as spaced out as the West Island? I guess you might be able to get by in Pointe Claire or right in Ste Anne without a car but anywhere more residential would be a stretch.
My point being that if you live far enough out that you need a car to get around it kind of doesn’t matter where you live anymore, as long as you are within wha you perceive as a reasonable commuting distance to where you need to go – assuming you need to go to the city at all.
Mr.Chinaski 12:02 on 2020-08-03 Permalink
Well lots are lots, so the bigger they are, the more you need a car. It’s a simple distance to ammenities versus density ratio.
There’s pretty much no walkable place South Shore unless you talk about really, really small zones that would be nearby a small downtown core (like 500m surrounding “downtown” St-Bruno near Clairevue/Montarville). But you will still do a vast majority of your travels using a car for anything other than food. Perhaps only in the Vieux-Longueuil would it be possible for an entire neighborhood to be walkable, but there are still pockets that are food deserts
Walkscore is always a good indicator!
Uatu 12:41 on 2020-08-03 Permalink
Yeah vieux Longueuil and streets near downtown St. Lambert come to mind. Parts of Brossard near taschereau Blvd as well. It’s possible to live without a car in the burbs, but as usual with real estate it’s location, location, location.