Living in Coombs

Coombs is a small rural community on the old highway route west of Parksville, best known for a market with goats grazing on its roof. Behind the visitors it is a working rural area of acreage, small holdings and treed lots, on the road between the coast and Port Alberni.

The Market and the Community Behind It

The Old Country Market put Coombs on the map, and the goats on its roof are one of the more recognisable images on Vancouver Island. Through the season it draws a substantial number of visitors.

Behind that, Coombs is an ordinary rural community. Acreage, small holdings, horses, outbuildings and people who chose country living on the old highway route rather than the coast.

The visitor traffic concentrates around the market itself rather than spreading through the rural roads, so how much any given property notices it depends almost entirely on where it sits.

Parksville is a short drive east for the shopping and the beach. Port Alberni is west over the highway if that direction matters.

Rural Ground and What Is Here

Parcels start around a few acres and go up, usually part open and part timber, with houses that were put up one at a time and show it.

That variety rewards a careful look. Outbuildings, water systems, drainage, septic and how additions were done over the years all deserve attention on a rural property of this kind.

Beyond the market and a handful of local businesses there is no commercial base. Everything substantial means the drive to Parksville or Qualicum Beach.

Set against the other communities:

• QualicumThe broader Qualicum area along the coast, from the town out to the rural edges.
• BowserLighthouse Country on the northern coast, rural and quiet.
• Deep BayA small marine community on Baynes Sound with shellfish water in front of it.
• ErringtonRural acreage inland from Parksville, toward the Englishman River.
• HilliersFarm ground between Coombs and Qualicum Beach with no centre of its own.
• French CreekThe harbour between the two towns, with a marina and the Lasqueti ferry.

Wells, Septic and Access

Private water and septic throughout, with no municipal alternative. Ask the well what it yields and how it copes through a dry stretch, and ask the septic its age, its design and the state of the field.

Driveway length and surface, who maintains the road, and how far the power comes in complete the practical list. Rural outages are routine and a generator is standard rather than cautious.

Land status is worth confirming for a specific parcel. Agricultural designation applies in places through this rural belt and it governs what can be built and whether ground can ever be divided.

What Rural Property Costs Here

Expect the standing country costs: water sampling, tank pumping, fence repair, limbing, grading, and a surcharge for distance on every service call.

Land here generally prices below the coastal communities, which is the practical reason buyers look inland. The gap is what pays for the drive to the beach.

Who Coombs Suits, and Who It May Not

Coombs suits somebody who wants rural ground at inland prices with a beach town a short drive east, and who is equipped to run a well, a septic field and a property with some land on it.

It suits less well anyone assuming municipal servicing, anyone who wants walkable anything, or anyone who would be bothered by seasonal traffic near the market.

If the rural ground appeals but the market traffic does not, Hilliers and Errington are quieter. If the coast matters more than the land, Parksville and Qualicum Beach are both short drives.