Great Ottawa neighbourhoods for car-free living - Part 1

Now that my blog has more than just immediate friends and family reading it (not many, but a few!), I've actually had some really nice questions. One couple currently living in Europe and planning a move back to Canada to start a family has asked about the best neighbourhoods in Ottawa for living car-free with children. Fortunately, this is an area where I have some experience, although I must confess that I've generally lived in the central-west axis of the city and not much beyond that. But I've lived in some excellent places for getting around without a car, including:

- Westboro (our current neighbourhood)

- The Glebe

- Old Ottawa South

- New Edinburgh/Vanier

- Centretown (downtown)

I've also got some insights into "next best" and alternative options for some parts of West Ottawa, because real estate prices in the above neighbourhoods have become silly and you can get much the same amenities and experience just a bit further out.

My morning so far has been a classic illustration about what you need to enjoy living car-free: after walking my children two blocks to school I walked for another 8 or 10 minutes to a grocery store in my neighbourhood, bought a few needed items, and walked back home to start my day. I work from home, so the trip was circuitous. If I'd been heading to work downtown, which I was still doing four years ago (and occasionally do these days for meetings), I'd have dropped off my children, walked for about 10 or 12 minutes to the Transitway, hopped a bus and been within a few minutes' walk at the other end to my office all within about 30 minutes or so of first leaving the house with the kids. On the way home I'd have stopped at the grocery store for those few items, and then walked home. This same scenario is also easily repeated on a bike and I have done this many times, both the neighbourhood errands and the downtown commuting.

It doesn't end there. After school I will be able to walk to collect my children from school (if I was a 9-5 office worker they'd perhaps be in the afterschool daycare, which is a very nice place), and after some downtime, homework and supper, we'll walk about four blocks to our neighbourhood community centre where we all take a class together in the evening once a week.

Things which I can do entirely on foot or by bike right in my neighbourhood include:

- clothe my children from head to toe (new and second hand options)

- clothe myself and my husband in much the same way (that sounds weird!)

- buy bog standard day-to-day food as well as specialty items (there is a whole lot of ice cream in our neighbourhood!)

- source gifts (new, fair trade and second hand options)

- get haircuts (my husband uses a neighbourhood barber; I go a bit further afield on the bikes with the boys)

- consult an excellent pharmacist, get prescriptions, etc.

- post letters and packages

- go for a swim (at an indoor pool or at a small beach when water quality allows!)

- get everything we need for bike repairs, camping trips, cross-country skiing and more

- dine out (from the low to the high)

- get lost for 10 minutes in a wonderful news/magazine store

- get a latte and a muffin (where can't you get a latte and a muffin these days?)

Now, if I were a certain type of gal, I could also buy yoga gear, fancy bras and indulge in super expensive toiletries or accessories for my darling pooch, but you might have gathered that I'm not. My neighbourhood also comes with a bunch of retail stores that I've never entered and don't plan to, but I guess that's the beauty of it - something for everyone.

All of that within walking distance; I'd argue that anyone living in an urban centre should be able to walk to these kinds of things, but sadly not all neighbourhoods are created equal.

A bit further afield (ie 10 minutes on the bike or a short bus ride away) we also have our doctor, our dentist, a wonderful library, a very accessible and decent neighbourhood shopping centre and other amenities. Oh, our neighbourhood even has a family cinema in it, which is just too cool and definitely an extra, but we love it. As I mentioned before, downtown Ottawa is also within incredibly easy reach on the bus or by bike (it's a also great walk for big walkers).

Okay, I think I've tripped over into gushing, which wasn't intended. Anyway, the experience that I just described can be replicated in much the same way (just with different details, housing options, etc.) throughout the neighbourhoods mentioned above and others too. I'll delve into those in more detail in my next post.