Why I Chose to Come Home to Saint Andrews by the Sea, an Idyllic Tourist Town
by John G. Kelly john@activeretirement.ca johngkelly.ca
Yes, I’m a Bay of Fundy Boy and, like so many Maritimers who grow up and leave, I decided to come home. But my exiting the greater Toronto Hamilton area (GTHA) and coming home wasn’t just about finding an affordable place to live in retirement. Although it is true that, as is the case for all escapees from large urban centers like the GTHA , my wife and I were able to have our dream custom home built for less than the price that we sold our condo for back in Toronto. But the choice to relocate to Saint Andrews wasn’t just about building our dream home and putting money in the bank.
Saint Andrews has a well-known reputation as having all the attributes of a Hallmark movie town with a historic town plat replete with heritage homes and a “15-minute walk” main street. And that main street is no run-of-the-mill shopping district. In fact, there is no shopping center. Instead, there is an array of specialty shops that range from customized eateries to arts and crafts boutiques. I’m never more than a five-minute drive or leisurely stroll along the main street gazing in windows displaying one-of-a-kind items that are a pleasure to look at on my way to perhaps an exhibition at the art gallery or concert at one of the local entertainment venues.
By the way, that journey might also be a comparable jaunt for golfers to play 9-18 holes on the heritage Algonquin Resort Hotel’s nationally ranked golf course or a game of tennis. A golf membership and/or daily fee in a comparable club in Toronto would cost 3-4 times the rates of the Algonquin course. Not surprisingly, many non-Maritimers who move to Saint Andrews in their retirement years are golfers in active retirement mode.
Saint Andrews is not a tourist escape. It’s a leisure tourism experience. If you’re a tourist you don’t come to Saint Andrews to sit around. You come to participate in an affordable quality holiday. No holiday is complete without entertainment. There is a weekly series of live concerts encompassing any and all kinds of entertainment by professional artists that those of us who live here get to enjoy with the tourists at prices that are literally half of what you would pay in the major urban centers. I know this personally because my wife and I were baroque music patrons in Toronto and were accustomed to paying premium prices for professional entertainment of that caliber. During the off-season in the dead of winter, we have to make do with bi-weekly concerts which is what we were accustomed to in Toronto, so we’re not missing out and we’re still getting out and about.
Leisure tourism by the sea also includes hikes and walks along the bay. The town has a series of heritage paths and walkways that make hiking or biking a must-do in the summer season. I’ve been an active holiday hiker since my teenage years. I’ve hiked the National Park Rockies and desert treks in Arizona. Saint Andrews is up to par and I’m able to do morning power walks throughout the year. If you want company there are walking clubs you can join that enable you to exercise and make friends with your neighbours.
If you want to wander in a quiet environment there’s Kingbrae Garden. They rival the famous Busch Gardens in Williamsburg Virginia and Tampa Florida and Butchart Gardens in Victoria and I don’t have to take a jet plane to stroll through a world-class garden. A “15-minute walk” will get my wife and me there.
Now there are what you can label as historic sites and venues. Notable among them is Ministers Island, where J.C. Van Horne, the iconic railway baron who built the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and linked Canada from sea to sea resided in the grandeur of his summer mansion. I’m more than just a visitor to Ministers Island. I’m on the board. Saint Andrews opens the door to opportunities to participate as a volunteer and board member for a number of non-profit and heritage sites and ventures and it’s added a new dimension to my life.
I could go on and will go on in additional posts. But you get the picture. My wife, Susan, and I have decided to embrace active community living in our retirement. Saint Andrews, an iconic heritage tourist town, is the ideal venue to get into it and get on with it as a personalized infrastructure for living life to the fullest. Give some thought to joining the crowd and there is a growing crowd opting out of urban and suburban living and opting into living life to the fullest in Saint Andrews.