As we’ve mentioned, Meaford’s new medical clinic will be located right next to Meaford Haven, which adds to the retirement advantages of our Three-Seasons retirement community.

Some Meaford residents have questioned the location of the clinic, saying it’s outside of central urban Meaford. We wanted to bring a bit of perspective to the discussion.

For those who aren’t that familiar with Meaford and its small-town scale, the new clinic location is about a mile from the centre of town as the crow flies. For those on the west and south end of town, including residents of Meaford Haven, it’s admirably located. Those on the east and north of town have a little further to travel, though compared to any larger centre, it’s not very far at all.

And while it’s obvious that no matter where the clinic was located, some town residents would be closer than others and many would have to drive – people also seem to forget that this clinic is intended to serve the Municipality of Meaford. If you look on a map, the bulk of the Municipality is west of the town proper.

Locating the Health Clinic at the northwest end of town, by Meaford Haven, offers easier access for a majority of Municipality of Meaford residents, who live west, north and south of the town itself. It’s also on a well-travelled route for residents shopping in Owen Sound. While remaining within the town proper, it’s the most central location possible.

If the North East Grey Health Clinic (NEGHC) team had decided to situate the medical clinic on the southeast end of town, you can see that it’s not far away from the Thornbury Health Clinic – the first successful project by the group.

So rather than geographically concentrating the clinics, NEGHC has expanded their reach.

In addition, Meaford Haven plans for a 25,000 square-foot medical and commercial centre which we expect will house a pharmacy, a hearing-aid centre, a health food store, and offices for practitioners – such as a chiropractor, optometrist, dentist, and more. So Health Clinic clients from all parts of the community will have easy access to all of their health needs quite close to the clinic.

Finally, a very generous individual has given the property for the clinic to NEGHC. On behalf of all Meaford residents, we’d like to thank this donor.

If you’re looking at enjoying a Georgian Bay retirement, you might be thinking about Thornbury. Thornbury’s a great place and we’d never want to dis it, but the other day we were thinking about it. We realized that Meaford offers a lot of things that make it a better retirement choice. Here are our four great reasons to choose a Meaford retirement community.

Memorial Park

Meaford has a real hidden gem right in town. Memorial Park offers parks, trails, camping, and a beautiful sandy beach. We say hidden, because it’s hidden from the town proper. Thornbury does have some beautiful little areas of waterfront and beach access, but unless you’re willing to drive or cycle a few kilometres, nearby houses and roads make you feel like you’re in the middle of town.

Meaford’s green

About a decade ago, Meaford began a composting pick-up program. On visits to larger centres “down south”, we learned that we were well ahead of the curve on this one. You can put any compostable materials in your weekly pickup, including things like paper towel and food you might not want in your backyard composter, like meat and bones. And pickup’s free every week. Just last week, Meaford was recognized for their waste diversion efforts by Michael Scott, CEO of Waste Diversion Ontario. We’re number one in Ontario, with a 62.78 waste diversion rate – compared to the provincial average of 46.52 percent. (Thornbury, or Blue Mountains, doesn’t pick up compost – but you can buy a composter from them for $30.)

Central to area attractions and major centers, but with a small town feel

While both Thornbury and Meaford are pretty much between the two larger communities in the area – Owen Sound and Collingwood – in recent years Thornbury has, understandably, oriented more toward Collingwood… and all that entails. More crowding. The weekender rush. It can be exciting, but just 10 minutes down the road, your Meaford retirement neighbourhood retains a more homey small town feel. You’re also that much closer to all the additional attractions up the Bruce Peninsula.

Meaford’s more affordable

A Thornbury retirement is going to be a bit more expensive. The pressures moving west from Collingwood and Blue Mountain development have pushed house and condo prices up. But you can still get a bargain in Meaford! Just ask us about it.

The snow has painted Meaford with a beautiful new palette.

In Monday’s issue of the New Yorker magazine, Patricia Marx takes a cheeky look at retirement coaches – from those catering to very rich retirees (fees as high as $150,000) to those targeting the bargain hunters among us ($10 for a one-hour session). The goal of many retirees seeking help from retirement coaches is not learning how to cope with the suddenly abundant downtime or finding new hobbies – it’s to help you find your way into your dream career. As Marx puts it, “Baby boomers are not simply delaying retirement; they are retiring retirement altogether by starting new careers.”

Industry Canada backs this up. Forty percent of workers over 65 are self-employed. Of course a bunch of those are people who were self-employed before they hit 65; they just haven’t retired yet. But some of them fall into the ranks of the “boomerpreneurs” – those who’ve decided, for various reasons, to use the free time that comes with retirement as an opportunity to start a business.

(The reasons might include maintaining an income, but retirees also cite accomplishment, staying active and social, and finally having the chance to do something they’ve dreamed of.)

Marx describes a sample coaching she experienced as involving a top-secret 16-page questionnaire; one-on-one meetings with consultants and a psychologist; and a “bridge meeting” – a brain-storming session on what might make her perfect post-career career.

Tina Di Vito, Director of Retirement and Financial Planning Strategies, BMO Financial Group, might be considered a retirement coach. Her advice?

Do your research Take advantage of the resources and network you have built over the years and learn all you need to know to set up your company. This includes gaining industry insight, arranging a new phone number, deciding whether or not to incorporate the business and looking into the potential tax implications.

Consider the pros and cons Think carefully about why you want to start your own business. Being your own boss can offer some flexibility. However, other sacrifices, such as longer hours and a possible decrease in cash flow – both starting up, and potentially over the life of your retirement – may be necessary to ensure your success.

Develop a plan Stress-test your idea and research your marketplace, including what products and services you will offer, the appropriate price point(s), who your potential customers will be and what your sales targets will need to be to cover your costs. Keep your end goal in mind as you build your company and maintain a positive – yet realistic – outlook as you progress.

Seek outside advice Speak to an accountant and a small business banker – financial specialists who can provide insight into setting up your company, market competition and personal and business capital needs.

And if you’re looking for ideas on what role you might take on in your retirement, consider this. In her New Yorker article, Patricia Marx notes that membership in the International Coach Federation has grown by more than 700 percent since it was founded in 1995. It seems that one of the most popular retirement careers might be retirement coach.

If you’ve had enough of this long hot summer, and are getting in the mood for a Meaford autumn, we discovered a nice video by “drofluf” down at the bottom of this post (with some stills from it gracing our page).

Meaford autumn country road (by drofluf)

(If you didn’t spend the summer here, you might be surprised at how perfect it was. While the south sweltered in smog and humidity for much of the season, Georgian Bay worked its magic, moderating temperatures here so that few days left us panting in heavy heat. The lack of rain was another story for farmers….)

A Meaford farm in autumn (by drofluf)

We came across this video by the mysterious drofluf (who is also apparently an avid cyclist), which showcases some of last year’s fall splendour. He (that’s an assumption we’re making) was testing out a new long lens for his video camera, so there’s a lot of nice pulled focus and selective focus shots (check out the Canada geese!).

Rolling hills in Meaford autumn (by drofluf)

The blue Blue Mountains (by drofluf)

And note the shot of a jet overhead. The crickets drown out its distant noise. Something else you notice when you live in quiet Meaford: while you’ll sometimes see distant planes and contrails, you rarely actually hear the airliners – they’re too far away.

“I don’t want to just sit there, get fat, and let my brain turn to mush.”

On a related note to our post yesterday about people working into their retirement, did you know that a good majority of $1-million plus lottery winners keep on working, whether that’s at their old job, a new job, or launching a new business?

As Yahoo News columnist Steve Mertl reports, the 50-something Ontario couple who won last weekend’s Lotto Max draw – $25 million! – don’t plan on retiring any time soon.

And the Toronto electrician who took home $50 million from the same lottery last May also continues to work. “I don’t want to just sit there, get fat, and let my brain turn to mush,” he told a news conference.

In the welter of reports last week about how Canadian retirees plan on working into their retirement years, a key fact might have been missed more often than not. It’s not just about the money.

The reports were based on a July survey by Leger Marketing for CIBC that revealed that more than half of Canadians who are now in their 50s plan to keep on working after retiring. In Ontario, 55 percent of the respondents said they’d work post-retirement (and Ontario retirement age is pegged at roughly 63 by the survey).

The reports pointed out that nearly half of 50-somethings have less than $100,000 saved for retirement (in Ontario it’s 46 percent), and suggested that post-retirement employment income would make up the gap.

But the survey also noted that “only one-third (33 per cent) said they would work just for the money. Two-thirds (67 per cent) see working as a way to either stay socially active, or find work enjoyable and want to stay involved in the workforce in some capacity.”

If your retirement living plan includes staying active and working, here are some financial tips we covered a few months back.

Of course, moving to a small-town Ontario retirement community such as Meaford Haven is a great way to reduce your costs and your stress.

Today’s stop in our tour of local spirits takes us a little further afield, but we couldn’t leave off without sampling some of the delicious brews of this Grey County brewery.

Back in 1857, Henry Huether arrived in Neustadt, and while he loved the village, he immediately realized something was missing. A brewery. The springs at Neustadt provided clear, cold waters perfect for beermaking, and he hired a large team of German stonemasons to build a brewery over the springs. Within two years, the Crystal Springs Brewery was delivering barrels to taverns far and near, and it continued to do so for the next 57 years – except for a brief period when fire damaged the building, which was quickly remedied by thirsty farmers who brought in fieldstone to rebuild the brewery in exchange for beer.

By 1916, prohibition and a decline in the local population led the brewery to shut its doors, and Neustadt’s brewing days seemed over.

Nearly 75 years later, a couple from England with experience at breweries in Lancashire and North Wales visited Ontario and fell in love with it. Andrew and Val Stimpson moved here in 1995, with plans to open a pub, but Andrew couldn’t find a local beer that he liked. So he decided to brew his own, and settled on the abandoned brewery in Neustadt, where the springs still flowed through a network of caverns below, as the perfect location. After nearly a year of renovations, and 81 years after the original brewery closed up, Neustadt Springs Brewery released its first batch of beer. It sold out within five hours.

Andrew and Val Stimpson in one of the vaulted stone cellars below Neustadt Springs Brewery.

In the years since, the brewery’s offerings have earned a host of Canadian and international awards, and you can find its biggest sellers (10W30 Brown Ale, Neustadt Lager, and Neustadt Scottish Pale Ale) at many LCBO outlets. But when you visit the brewery (and book ahead to take a tour), make sure you bring home its less well-known, seasonal brews: Big Dog Beaujolais Porter, Texas Tea Honey Stout, 456 Marzen Lager, Mill Gap Bitter or The Sour Kraut.

Next on our 30-mile spirits tour of the area around Meaford is Creemore Springs, which opened 25 years ago in the tiny village of Creemore, south of Collingwood. Start by enjoying the scenic drive that brings you there. From Meaford, head south on Grey Road 7, or as it’s known locally, the 4th line. This road climbs steeply out of town, and if you stop at the top, you can enjoy a beautiful panoramic view of Georgian Bay and the sweep of Cape Rich. (By now, you’re probably familiar with it – though we hope still in awe of it.)

Continue along the road and down into the wide Beaver Valley until you reach the stop sign at Grey Road 13, below the looming face of Kimberley Rock or “Old Baldy”. Turn right here, and proceed through the quaint hamlet of Kimberley before climbing back out of the valley toward Eugenia. The Beaver Valley Lookout on your right might be worth a stop to enjoy the view. Then, through Eugenia until the stop sign at Grey Road 4. Turn left, and head east for 10 minutes or so until you reach another stop sign at Highway 124. Turn right here, and about 8 kms. later, turn left at Simcoe Road 9. This winding road descends through tree-shaded curves to the village of Creemore.

A right on the main street of town, Mill Street, brings you to the Creemore Brewery. Back in 1987, retired ad man John Wiggins decided the town’s old hardware store, which he owned, would make a perfect place for a brewery. A friend, who was a retired bottle manufacturing executive and soon-to-be-co-founder, had an artesian well on his Creemore property. Another partner, also retired, who happened to be a pipe fitter and welder – handy for all that copper equipment – came on board, and the team hired brewmaster Doug Babcook to create the original Creemore Springs Premium Lager.

Creemore Springs opened its doors on August 15, 1987 (which makes its 25th anniversary just a few weeks away), and the original batches of beer sold out in four hours. But as the beer was welcomed throughout the province (and eventually Quebec and Alberta, and even further afield), the brewery expanded to accommodate.

Your blogger enjoyed his first taste of Bohemian-influenced Creemore Lager a year after its launch during a visit to Collingwood, and declared it delicious. But more reputable beer tasters were already noticing. Michael Jackson, world-famous beer writer, soon declared Creemore one of the two best lagers in North America (the other no longer exists).

Since then, the brewery has introduced such beers as it’s UrBock, a heavier winter beer, launched in 1996; a Pilsner, introduced as a summer beer in 2007, but now made year-round; and Kellerbier, an unfiltered German-style beer, first produced in 2009.

In 2005, beer giant Molson bought Creemore, but the distinctive brews continue to be produced in the village, and the quality and flavour of the beer doesn’t seem to have suffered.

Take a tour of the brewery while you’re there, and enjoy a sampling of the Creemore offerings. And don’t forget to bring some home with you.

A couple of weeks ago, we related the tale of a Meaford spirit – the ghost that haunts the Meaford Museum. Today, we’re going to embark on a quest for another kind of local spirit.

The area around Meaford has a remarkable number of craftspeople producing unique and delicious alchoholic beverages. Whatever your “poison”, you can find a 100-mile spirit to wet your whistle. Actually, there are at least a half-dozen unique vintners, brewers, distillers and others within a 30 mile (or 50-kilometre) radius of Meaford. Get your thirst on, and get ready for a tour.

We’ll start with one of the newest flavours on the scene – though it comes from a long-established Canadian distiller. Back in 1968, Barton Distilleries built the Canadian Mist distillery on the east side of Collingwood. Three years later, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman purchased the distillery, and more than 40 years later, the company says that the Collingwood mist location is the longest-continuously-owned distillery in Canada. Most of the Canadian Mist bottles find their way to the states; it’s the second most popular Canadian whisky brand in the U.S., after Crown Royal – though whisky writer Davin de Kergommeaux says it doesn’t get enough respect, and is“probably the most underrated and misunderstood of Canadian whiskies.”

But a recent push by independent and major distillers to create more distinctive, “craft”, smaller-batch whiskies has taken root at Canadian Mist. In early 2011, Brown-Forman debuted Collingwood Canadian Whisky, which distinguishes itself as the only “maplewood mellowed Canadian whisky” available. The whisky is aged in oak barrels, and then rests with toasted sugar maple staves as a finishing step.

The whisky, which uses Canadian grains and fresh water drawn from Nottawasaga Bay (that’s the water you gaze out upon from Meaford), has been available in Canada for less than a year.

Collingwood Canadian Whisky and Nottawasaga Bay (photo: Canadian Whisky, www.canadianwhisky.org)

De Kergommeaux describes Collingwood this way: “Dark fruits, Concord grapes, roses and spring flowers with a rich and creamy mouthfeel. Split cherry firewood with earthy rye and tingling hot pepper. Floral & Fragrant.” He also gives it a “highly recommended” four out of five stars.

You can pick it up at your local liquor store, or why not enjoy a dram by the waters of Nottawasaga Bay in Meaford?