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Bill Robb

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There is nothing like walking to get the feel of a subdivision.

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Bill Robb/This Week

Elmhurst Street is a lovely street for walking.

Finding and new and pleasant subdivision to the veteran walker is a bit like a musician finding a new piece of music. Both must be taken at the right tempo. Even a bicycle goes to fast.

And so it was that this week I continued by investigation of the Pinehurst Subdivision in Moncton, specifically on Elmhurst Street.

This street has a very comfortable sidewalk with the sweet rustle of ferns on one side at a curve in the road to enhance the summer breezes.

This is a neighbourhood of lovely, quite new homes, with their owners still working to rapidly get trees and gardens growing. It has an undercurrent of growth as all newer neighbourhoods do. You know that as it evolves, it is just going to get prettier and prettier.

Right now there appears to be lots of young families, with the tell-tale signs of children's toys and bicycles and the symphony of young voices at play. But there are also signs of life's balance, with cozy seating areas set out on porches and by shaded trees.

We are so lucky in a growing city like Moncton to see have an element of coziness, and I think that comes with the development of so many unique subdivisions like Pinehurst.

The area is built within a few years, the community grows together and develops the neighbourhood together.

And all of that makes for beautiful summer strolls. So get out of your car this week, and try to take in at least one new neighbourhood.

There's nothing like walking it to really get a handle on what it would be like to live there, or to try to understand the people who do.

And don't be afraid to stop for a minute and really appreciate some of the unique landscaping techniques people use, from imaginative colour combinations in flower beds to unusual trees and shrubs. This is how we grow our own imaginations, and thus our own gardens.