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The Move: Why one family moved from Toronto to Vancouver Island...and 14 goats

The Bergot-Brownings were itching to leave Toronto. One year and 14 goats later, they’re among greener pastures on Vancouver Island.

The backstory: In 2014, the Bergot-Brownings dropped $714,000 on a three-bedroom semi-detached home in Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood. After Nora’s birth in 2019, the family took regular trips to visit Nicole’s parents, who lived near Qualicum Beach on the east side of Vancouver Island. Matt, a native of Grimsby, England, loved the mountains, and Nicole says the island felt even more like home than north Vancouver, where she grew up. “Every time we visited, we were like, ‘What’s our five-year plan to move out here?’ ” Nicole says.

At the time, moving didn’t make sense. Nicole worked in television production—a city-bound pursuit—and the family was well-settled in Toronto. Finley attended school a block from their house, and Nora’s daycare was also close by. They were regulars at an east-end farmer’s market, and Matt and Nicole enjoyed regular date nights closer to home at Left Field Brewery. Still, they found themselves more and more eager to spend weekends camping in Algonquin Park and visiting friends’ cottages on Georgian Bay. “We were trying to get out of the city as much as possible, which was telling,” Nicole says.

In February of 2021, a friend sold their own semi for more than $1.5 million. “We were shocked at what they got for it,” Nicole says. “I reached out to a realtor friend and said, ‘Hey, what do you think our house is worth?’ ”

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On newsstands now:

The Amazing Journey of Alphonso Davies

As part of our comprehensive package previewing the upcoming 2022 World Cup, Jason McBride profiles Canadian soccer superstar Alphonso Davies, who leads Canada to its first World Cup appearance in 36 years this November in Qatar.

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