Proximity to Calgary, affordable home prices and a variety of nearby amenities are making two towns in Mountain View County enticing options for house hunters willing to commute.

At about 40 minutes and 30 minutes from Calgary, respectively, Didsbury and Carstairs have helped some homebuyers balance a job in the city with the benefits of rural life.

North of Calgary, where Highway 2A splits off the main route to Edmonton, are three communities offering the best of quiet, rural-Alberta living.

Carstairs, Didsbury and Olds each have their own unique appeal, along with real estate choices ideal for growing families.

A novel place to plant your savings

Given the fickle Canadian climate, farming for a living is often viewed as a risky proposition. Buying farmland, however, is attracting some interest from Calgary investors seeking a hedge against inflation that will also produce goods and generate income.

The two most common ways to make money from farmland are capital appreciation – when the land increases in value - and income. That income can be from cash rent, calculated by dollars per cultivated acre, or a crop share, where the investor receives a share of the total crop sales each year, usually about 20-30 per cent.

"Farmland has been a tremendous investment over the last 10 years," said J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist for Farm Credit Canada. "Not only have land values been rising, but returns from farming have been very strong, with farm cash receipts increasing on a national level by an average of $2 billion a year for the past decade."