The Simple Life in P.E.I.

Last summer my friend and former neighbour Joan packed up her dogs and cats, bought a new car and set off on an adventure. It wasn't just a vacation, she had sold her condo in Montreal and was relocating to Prince Edward Island in the Maritime provinces of Canada. She had bought sight unseen an old farmhouse with five acres of land about a 30 minute drive from Charlottetown, the provincial capital. The house had not been lived in for several years and had some condition issues, which is one reason that the price was, if I remember right, $57,000, far lless than Joan received for her Montreal condo.
The Maritimes are one part of Canada where real estate prices are still reasonable. About a decade ago another friend was considering buying a place in rural Newfoundland, where houses then were selling for as little as $10,000.
I caught up with Joan again at New Year's, and was happy to learn that she is settling in well,, having done a lot of work on the house to make it habitable for winter. Joan enjoys renovation work and is good at it. She has also been fortunate in finding friendly neighbours, and her dogs love being able to run free on the property.
Now that cold weather is setting in and the wood stove is working, Joan has more time to herself and I am trying to persuade her to write some guest posts here or start her own blog about her experience of moving to the country. She grew up in Edinburgh and lived for many years in Montreal, so it is all new to her. Here's an excerpt from her email: "the potato fields are now ploughed over and the other crops, barley I think, are now just stubble and of course the trees are bare. I take the dogs out across the fields at the back of the house twice a day, and into the woods on my property. Weather permitting we go to the beach about a 10-minute drive from here."
Lots of people dream of moving to the country for a less expensive and lower stress lifestyle. Forget Provence and Tuscany, for low-cost living you need look no further than the Maritimes. They speak English, and you have access to all the usual Canadian services including health care, llibraries and universities (health care only if you are Canadian or a legal immigrant, of course.)