October 26, 2021
A Comprehensive Neighbourhood Guide for Moving to Banbury-Don Mills
Banbury-Don Mills is one of the most popular neighbourhoods in all of Toronto. Located on the south side of North York, the neighbourhood combines a peaceful residential area with a bustling commercial hub situated around the Shops on Don Mills outdoor shopping centre. Banbury-Don Mills is a desirable destination because of its easy access to the downtown core, wonderful scenery, and excellent selection of schools. Like most of Toronto, Banbury-Don Mills is an extremely culturally diverse community. Aside from English, the other languages most spoken in Banbury-Don Mills homes are Mandarin, Cantonese, Farsi, and Tagalog.
Where is Banbury-Don Mills
As the name suggests, the neighbourhood of Banbury-Don Mills is bisected by Don Mills Road. The neighbourhood sits between Banbury Road and the Don Valley Parkway with York Mills Road serving as the northern boundary and Eglinton Avenue serving as the southern boundary.
Getting around Banbury-Don Mills
Banbury-Don Mills has an abundance of excellent transportation options. The neighbourhood is located right next to two major highways. Highway 401 can take you east to Scarborough or west to Etobicoke and Mississauga in under an hour. The Don Valley Parkway can take you north to Markham or south into the downtown core in less than twenty minutes. Motorists can easily reach just about anywhere in the city from Banbury- Don Mills.
The neighbourhood also has a great public transportation system with TTC bus routes running along York Mills, Lawrence Avenue East, and Leslie Street, connecting you to the Yonge-University Spadina Subway line. On top of that, construction is currently underway on the Crosstown Light Rail Line along Eglinton Avenue, which will provide Banbury-Don Mills residents with yet another transportation option running from Mount Dennis to Kennedy.
The types of homes in Banbury-Don Mills
The design of the Banbury-Don Mills model community was influenced by the Garden City movement started in London in the late 1800s. Greenbelts were left untouched by development to maintain the natural beauty of the area’s woodlands and ravines.
Most of the residential space in Banbury-Don Mills is occupied by houses built in the mid 1960s and early 1970s. These houses are built on square lots with long street frontage, which means that the houses face the street with their long side giving them slightly shorter backyards than other neighbourhoods in the city. In recent years, many of the older homes in the neighbourhood have been redeveloped in favour of larger modern custom homes. On Banbury Road itself, the houses are mostly 2-storey detached homes around or over 4,000 sq.ft. located on long, winding, pedestrian-friendly streets. There are also many new builds along Larkfield Dr and Grangemill Crescent with more and more new developments happening all the time.
Along Don Mills Road there are several low-rise and high-rise luxury condominiums with only more under construction in the southern part of the neighbourhood surrounding the new Crosstown LRT line. The diversity of housing options makes Banbury-Don Mills a desirable destination for both homeowners and renters alike.
Making the move to Banbury-Don Mills
Banbury-Don Mills is one of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in the city because of its wide range of housing options, great access to transportation and shopping, and its strong school system. Whether you are a family looking to settle down long-term or a young professional looking to rent an apartment at an affordable price while still being close to Downtown, Banbury-Don Mills is the perfect place for you.
Moving into a new home, whether that be an apartment or a house, is a very daunting task. Self-storage can be a useful tool to help alleviate some of the pressure on move-in day and can be used as an extra storage option, which is especially nice to have for apartment living. Right now, Storwell Self Storage is providing my clients with an exclusive offer of 4 weeks of free self-storage at any of their facilities. Storwell has locations in Mississauga, Etobicoke, and one location in Scarborough on Markham Road and the 401, just a short drive east of Banbury-Don Mills. If you are moving to the Banbury-Don Mills neighbourhood and need self-storage to help with your next move, you can visit a Storwell facility in person to demo a unit.
Storwell Self Storage
85 Executive Ct, Scarborough, ON M1S 5W9
Phone: 416-534-5555
The best shopping options in Banbury-Don Mills
Construction finished on the Shops at Don Mills in 2009. The new shopping centre has an open-air settling with a network of private internal streets and a stronger focus on up-scale retail stores. The Shops at Don Mills is home to over 70 stores including Azadi Jewellery, Brooks Brothers, Guess, and Swarovski. The shopping centre also has a wide range of dining options including Pi Co., Jack Astor’s Bar and Grill, and Chipotle.
Parks and recreation in Banbury-Don Mills
Although Banbury-Don Mills is just minutes away from a major urban center, it has an amazing amount of greenery and parkland. The Don Mills Trail is a picturesque nature trail that ends at Bond Avenue and transitions northward under the name Leaside Spur Trail. At that transition point, you will find Bond Park. Bond Park has several amenities including five full-sized baseball diamonds and six well-maintained tennis courts that belong to the Don Mills Tennis Club.
The historic Don River cuts through the center of the Banbury-Don Mills neighbourhood and is incorporated into several holes at the Donalda Golf Club. On the east side of the neighbourhood near Banbury Road and Caravan Drive is Banbury Park. Right next to Banbury Park is the Banbury Community Centre, which is host to serval community programs including Pilates classes, early childhood ballet lessons, and visual arts workshops.
The best schools in Banbury-Don Mills
Banbury-Don Mills is a popular neighbourhood for young families, partially because it has such an excellent selection of schools. York Mills Collegiate Institute, located on York Mills Road, is the main secondary school in the Banbury-Don Mills area.
Banbury-Don Mills also has a wide selection of great elementary and middle schools; however, one school deserves special consideration. St. Bonaventure Catholic School on Leslie Street received extremely high marks in the Fraser Institute’s Annual Report Card for 2020 and was ranked as one of the top 100 elementary schools in all of Ontario out of over 3000 other schools. Other highly rated elementary and middle schools in the Banbury-Don Mills area include:
The best places to eat in Banbury-Don Mills
Banbury-Don Mills’ culturally diverse community is reflected in its eclectic blend of dining options, which include cuisines from all over the world. The Shops on Don Mills have a plethora of great restaurants and eateries. JOEY Don Mills offers a broad menu featuring Asian, Italian, and American cuisine in a relaxed and modern setting. The Keg Steakhouse and Bar on Leslie Street is a mainstay of the Banbury-Don Mills neighbourhood, which serves up classic steak and seafood in a casual yet stylish environment. For an elegant fine-dining experience, head over to David Duncan House on Moatfield Drive and try their prime steaks and seafood entrees. If you have room left for dessert, there are plenty of options in Banbury-Don Mills. You can go to Wooffles and Cream on Mallard Road and try their Hong Kong style waffles and delicious soft serve ice cream. Ice ‘n Cake is small café with sidewalk seating in the Shops on Don Mills serving delicious espresso drinks, crepes, and gelato. Demetres is another popular dessert spot in the Shops on Don Mills that serving crepes, waffles, and artisanal ice cream.
Moving to Banbury-Don Mills
Due to its wonderful selection of houses, strong school system, and great shopping options Banbury Don Mills has become one of the premier neighbourhoods in Toronto. It is a perfect neighbourhood for families who are looking for a quiet, peaceful, tight-knit community that also has great access to transportation options, which can connect them to the downtown core. Experience this neighbourhood for yourself and make the move to Banbury-Don Mills today. Call Ecko Jay today at 416-445-8858 for a confidential chat about the present market situation and trends in the neighbourhood.