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crystal said,
March 24, 2009 at 6:59 AM
Hello there, came across your blog and was hoping you can give me some insight on Aylmer. I have two children 2 and 4.5 and are looking at houses in Aylmer and Gatineau. What things could you tell me about Aylmer, child friendly, hings to do, community spirit, etc etc that could help me make this decision easier. We are both unilingual but I hope to take french lessons. Im a work from home mom, husband is working in Ottawa and we won’t really know anyone in Quebec. So forums and websites to check out for play dates or mom dates would be fab.
Thank you
Crystal
Sandra said,
May 1, 2009 at 5:54 PM
Hi there, how bizarre i just came across your web site and read a comment made by a woman named Crystal. The comment itself was not bizarre its the fact that i was basically about to ask you the same things she did??
I’m an Australian who is looking at moving to Aylmer next month with my husband and two children. I am unilingual but my husband speaks both french and english. Like Crystal i was hoping you could tell me a little about Aylmer or even direct me to web links or sections of yr blog. My husband will be working in Ottawa but i am a stay home mom, so of course any info on child friendly activities, playgroups etc would be great. This is such a big move for all of us, i’m hoping to find out as much about Aylmer before we arrive.
Thank you
kayla roy said,
May 3, 2009 at 9:14 AM
you should look for a house in lakeview terrace… its a wonderful neighborhood…:)
Brandy said,
March 5, 2011 at 3:08 PM
I also live in Lakeview Terrace, and yes, it is a wonderful neighbourhood.
Tara said,
November 3, 2010 at 8:32 PM
Did the two ladies above ever receive a response to their question? We are in the EXACT same position – thinking o moving to Aylmer with one small child and my husband works for the government while I plan to be at home for the next while. Please, please send any info you can about whether the town might be a nice community for us to move. We speak mainly English (and Spanish!) at this point. Thanks so very much!
sammyqc said,
November 5, 2010 at 9:44 PM
Hi Tara,
I’ve written lots of posts about living in Aylmer, and stuff to do here. There’s the pool, the library has programs for kids, a few playgroups, etc… As for the language barrier, to be honest, I can speak french and do on occasion, but English is my mother tongue and what I usually use. I’ve never, not once, had anyone be rude to me for not speaking french. It is very bilingual. Aylmer is a smaller town, but because we have such close access to Ottawa, it doesn’t feel small. The one thing to consider is the commute. Does your hubs work in Ottawa? Then count on a good hour and half commute both ways for him during rush hour. It is not fun, and you have to plan around the traffic if you want to avoid getting caught in it. There is a lot of new development going on here, and no infrastructure to support it so the traffic is a major headache for a lot of people.
Hope this helps.
Shelley said,
November 16, 2010 at 8:57 AM
Hi everyone, I just wanted to add a couple things!
First, there is a great group for Moms looking for child-friendly outings and get-togethers. Check it out here: http://www.meetup.com/playgroup-901/
As was mentioned, Aylmer is very bilingual, (I also speak mainly English and have only just started to really understand any French). I haven’t had any trouble here understanding or being understood.
As for the commute, while it can be a long one, it all depends on timing. We live in the Glenwood neighbourhood and commute via Lucerne Blvd. If we leave by 7:00 in the morning, it takes us 15 minutes to get to downtown Ottawa. If we leave by 7:15, it can take over 45 minutes just to get down Lucerne. That said, I find that Aylmer’s proximity to downtown Ottawa is much closer than if you were to move to say, Kanata or Barrhaven, and I imagine the commute is about the same from those areas, if not longer. Not to mention that the housing prices on that side of the river are generally insane (but our taxes are over here, so it kinda works out evenly). I have thought a few times that I might like to live in Ottawa, but to be honest, I find that if you’re looking for a beautiful community like Aylmer, you’re going to pay well over $500,000 for a house in Ottawa.
Also, if you are English-only and looking for more information, check out the Regional Assoc. of West Quebeccers website – they have a Welcome package they give to newcomers that provides a ton of information about services, etc. in English to help get you started.
Shelley
sammyqc said,
November 16, 2010 at 7:34 PM
Thanks Shelley.
You are absolutely right about the commute into Ottawa. If you time it so you are going to and from during off peak hours, it takes 15 minutes to get to downtown Ottawa.
The housing prices are the reason we moved here from Ottawa as well.
Now, we have come to appreciate to small town feel and the lovely neighborhood we live in.
I can honestly say we’ve never regretted moving here.
Silvana Koleva said,
November 22, 2010 at 8:13 AM
Hello,
We are going to move to Aylmer hopefully at the beginning of 2011. We have a little girl and we would like to live in a quiet and children friendly neighborhood. Is there any areas of Aylmer that we have to avoid while looking for housing?
Thank you
Shelley said,
November 22, 2010 at 9:06 AM
Hi Silvana,
(Sammy, I hope you don’t mind me writing all over your blog, ha ha)… I’ve been living in Aylmer for three and a half years now and honestly there aren’t too many areas that you need to be aware of. From what I’ve seen, you might want to steer clear of the Deschenes area (along the river near Vanier rd), and right downtown (North side of Principale and closer to the marina, in places) there are some older neighbourhoods with pockets of less “appealing” looking houses. I’ve noticed there tends to be more ‘shady looking’ characters roaming about there too. Any of the big suburbs though have great parks, close to schools and shopping, etc. and some areas of ‘downtown’ have beautiful historic homes in safe neighbourhoods. You’d really have to take a drive through to see the streets you might want to avoid, but as I say, in general, Aylmer is a pretty tame area with a nice small-town sort of feel.
sammyqc said,
November 24, 2010 at 7:50 PM
Don’t mind at all, Shelley.
I will say that I think Wychwood is a very distinct neighborhood, which is where I live. I love the old trees that grow everywhere, the access to the river (great for skiing in the winter, swimming or canoe/kayaking in the summer), quick access to the bike path, a well maintained outdoor ice rink in the winter, and you can walk up to the grocery store in about 20 minutes.
It also feels very much like a small community. I know many people just by meeting them out walking the dog (mind you, I can’t remember anyone’s names, only their dogs!) There was a woman in the neighborhood a while ago, that needed financial help for a cancer treatment. Without going into to much detail, Wychwood raised more than enough to cover that need.
I know my neighbors. The kids across the street babysit and housesit for me. My kids have friends just houses down the road, where they run over to see if they can play. They have other friends a few streets away, that they go to the park with.
I don’t know as much about other neighborhoods, not having experienced them, but I think my neighborhood is pretty special.
Shelley said,
November 24, 2010 at 8:15 PM
I’ve heard that Wychwood is a very sought-after neighbourhood for sure. Sounds like it should be.
Glenwood is kind of similar. I find the neighbourhood is currently more ‘mature’ (ie: many retirees), but slowly there are younger families starting to move in around us. We’re surrounded by parks, quiet streets, and really nice people. Our neighbours all watch out for each other’s houses when people are on vacation, one set of neighbours even invited us all over for cocktails last xmas, and when I had my baby in the summer we had no shortage of neighbours coming over to congratulate us, usually bringing the sweetest hand-made teddy bears, etc. We’re also very close to everything – I can walk to the mall or Loblaws and it takes me about 10 minutes, max to get there. The bike path is about 5 minutes the opposite direction. We are not overly close to the river, but a 20 minute walk will take you to it, just off the bike path. I kind of think maybe there are a few places in Aylmer that have that great community feel to them. This is why I love it so much.
I’d be curious to know if it’s the same in the newer subdivisions, but my limited observations say that it is.
Ann said,
March 24, 2011 at 2:26 PM
I live in Deschenes (the area you might want to avoid). I’m glad people keep putting that rumour out there. They just built condos in the $300′s right down by the river and they are gorgeous. I have wonderful neighbours and love the area. Never had a problem, but as long as the rest of the world thinks it’s a shady area, I can continue to enjoy the peace and quiet and the lovely trails along the river without all the suburbanites moving in.
Shelley said,
March 24, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Please forgive me Ann. I just re-read my post and realized that I really kind of talked out of my a## there. Of course every area has its good and bad, and honestly, I didn’t mean to offend anyone by it! Aylmer as a whole is a safe, quiet, “small-town” feeling place. I used to live in Hull and did feel a bit offended when friends of ours would comment on how run-down and “shady” the neighbourhood looked, because what they didn’t see were all the wonderful, caring neighbours we had. It felt like a “family” on our street, everyone helping each other out to clear the snow, chatting at the bus stop in the morning together, and watching out for each other’s houses when we were away. So, I had no right to recommend a neighbourhood based on appearances alone, as of course it doesn’t necessarily reflect accurately on the people who live there.
Again, sorry for my post. The people house-hunting will obviously search out the right neighbourhood for their budget, taste and style when they come to Aylmer, and I had no right to assume one neighbourhood would appeal to them over another.
Motan said,
April 25, 2011 at 7:18 PM
Hi just thought I’d way in on the Aylmer neighborhood discussion.
We have 2 kids (5 & 2) and moved to Wychwood area last summer. We had been living in Old Hull for the 6 previous years. Both neighborhoods have their pros and cons, and while Wychwood definitely has some nicer architecture going on, Deschenes benefits from MUCH better access to the river. We do have two parks with public access to the river in Wychwood, but there is a lot more public access in Deschenes. We looked at houses in both places, and ended buying one of the more modest places in Wychwood. What really won us over was the cottage feel that Wychwood has. Good friends of ours live with their 2 kids in Deschenes, and they both have excellent access to parks and bike paths. Deschenes is also mush more affordable.
Having lived in Old Hull, with 2 small children, I also spent a lot of time defending that neighborhood. One important question I always asked people who asked me about living in Hull is ” Where are you moving from?”. If you are coming from a small town, yes a place like Old Hull or Deschenes might be a take a bit of adjustment, they are mixed income neighborhoods, with a slightly grittier feel. If you are moving from a larger city like Toronto or Montreal, they are very benign. You might see a few cops cars, or people talking loud as they happily picking up case of beer at the dep, but there are no robberies, or shootings or muggings going on.
We bought our first house in Old Hull in 2004 for about 110K and we bought our second place in Wychwood in 2010 for about 205K. Both times, we could not find anything remotely desirable in Ottawa for anywhere near those prices. On the question of taxes, they are higher on the Quebec side, but well worth it if you take advantage of the perks (lower daycare, access to public services, etc…) CBC did a good feature this past year called “Crossing the Bridge” I recommend it for anyone considering moving to the “dark side” as my friends call it”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2010/03/10/f-gatineau-main.html