For those not in the know here’s what you need to know about my city;
Lovely London, Ontario, Canada, a city of 365,000, lies midway between Toronto and Detroit. 45 mins to the beaches of Lake Huron or Lake Erie. Home to a prestigious university, and a medical hub with cutting edge facilities.
It was a very early settlement, in Canada, the gentle hills must have reminded the Brits of home, hence the name of the city, and the river that runs through it; The Thames. Home to a British garrison, that was instrumental to defending our border during the war that made us into the country we are today. The Battle of the Thames was a key battle in that war.
As a result of this history the city is filled with lovely Victorian architecture. A small city with it’s major activities (hospitals, churches, university) not centrally located, meant that most of those lovely buildings still exist and were never razed for core industrial development that cleared out like areas in other cities.
Within this city is a district called Woodfield, which is where I live. It’s a truly lovely neighbourhood. Filled with large trees, Victorian mansions and cottages, churches and parks, all jumbled in together. It’s actually in the urban core of the city, which makes it all the nicer to live in, everything downtown is within easy walking distance.
We bought our 120+ year old, 1000 sq ft, cottage, 10 yrs ago for $100,000. It has since doubled in price, and seems like it might gain more ground with this attention. It’s a beautiful little house, with pocket doors, in laid hardwood floors, 9’ ceilings, a walk in pantry, a walk in attic space with a couple of small windows. Huge old weighted windows, a charming and private back yard, an enclosed 3 season porch and a wood stove. Rose arbor, grape arbor, cherry trees, raspberries, blackberries, mulberries. Can you tell that I adore it?
So it turns out, they are holding a Great Places In Canada competition, and my lovely neighbourhood is, currently, at the top of the list! Talk about unexpected recognition!
While we find it wonderful my city is really a bit of a provincial backwater in a way and this recognition comes out of left field entirely. (Though 30,000 students a year pass through this city and most likely look back on their time here fondly, so there’s that!)
If you’d like to check it out, go to www.cip-icu.ca/greatplaces. Click on neighbourhoods and scroll down to Woodfield. If you feel like it, why not vote? I’m just saying…