When I bought my house in Laurelwood about 10 years ago, it was among the first built on the block in a new section of the neigbourhood. I confess I was, at the time, largely attracted by the affordability of the home compared to some other new construction I was considering at the time (I needed a new home out of consideration for my children's allergies and asthma) and by the proximity to the Laurel Creek Conservation area.

For the first few years we lived with construction dust and building traffic but also enjoyed frequent wild animal sightings on the construction site(foxes, raccoons, deer, snapping turtles, frogs, to name a few.)!

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I love being able to walk into the forested trails near the Nature Centre (after school hours please) and feel like I have departed the city. I love cross country skiing there in the winter time and skating and pick up hockey on the ponds in the neighbourhood.

I have always appreciated the ease with which I can go for a walk with my dog, a run or a bike ride in the country. Five minutes from home and I am there!

The neigbourhood has matured in very positive ways. The schools all have excellent reputations. My kids have attended Laurelwood Public School and Sir John A McDonald Secondary School - both schools have provided great experiences. I have heard similar reports that "St. Nicks" and "Abraham Erb" are also very popular schools.

We now have nearby plazas serving the neighbourhood in a variety of ways - grocery shopping, a gas station, coffee bars, restaurants, pharmacies and banking, to name a few of the newer amenities. If all continues well, we will be getting a new YMCA facility and branch library in the next year or two.

And if these features alone aren't enough to make one love the neighbourhood, Laurelwood also has a wide range of housing prices and types. And when it comes time for us Laurelwood folks to sell our homes, they are in demand.

And we can still see the occasional glimpses of wildlife!