Live in Bells Corners
An 1834 crossroads that survived a fire, became a Nepean tract suburb, and is the only part of the west end with a main street of its own inside the Greenbelt.
Hugh Bell opened a tavern at this crossroads in 1834 and kept it until 1863, and when the post office opened on 6 August 1851 the place had to take a formal name, so it became Bell's Corners. In August 1870 a fire destroyed most of it. The one building that survived is the Union Church of 1853 on Old Richmond Road, put up by Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians together on land Bell had given them. What rebuilt the village was not the fire but the 1950s: Lynwood Village went up between 1958 and 1966, one of the first tract-housing developments in Ottawa, and the man who built it was Bill Teron, six years before he began assembling the farmland that became Kanata. Westcliffe Estates followed at the end of the 1960s. Then the National Capital Greenbelt was drawn around the whole thing, which is why Bells Corners still reads as a village with fields on three sides rather than as part of the suburb that starts again on the far side of them. The City designated Robertson Road a Business Improvement Area in 2009, and since 2025 the BIA has been running a public process, Reimagining Robertson Road, on what a main street here should be.
A crossroads that kept its main street, and a Greenbelt that fixed its edges
Bells Corners covers about 4.66 km² in College Ward, sitting inside the National Capital Greenbelt with Kanata beyond it to the west and Bayshore and Crystal Beach to the northeast. Robertson Road and Richmond Road run through the middle as the commercial strip, with Moodie Drive to the west and Highway 416 to the east. This guide covers the two Ottawa Neighbourhood Study neighbourhoods that split it: Bells Corners East (6), which is Lynwood Village, bounded by Robertson Road, Highway 416, Hunt Club Road and Moodie Drive; and Bells Corners West (7), which is Westcliffe Estates. Arbeatha Park and Bellwood Estates sit alongside them. The two ONS units carry 8,887 residents between them, while the 2021 census counted 9,385 for Bells Corners as a whole. The two figures are drawn on different lines, and neither is wrong.
Hugh Bell kept a tavern at this crossroads from 1834 to 1863, and when the post office opened on 6 August 1851 the settlement took a formal name and became Bell's Corners. By 1866 it was a post village of about a hundred and fifty in Nepean Township. In August 1870 a fire destroyed most of it, and the one building that came through was the Union Church of 1853 on Old Richmond Road, built by Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians together on land Bell had given them. Bells Corners Public School now stands where the tavern stood.
The suburb arrived in 1958, by way of Kanata's builder. Lynwood Village was developed by Lloyd Francis and Donald Sim and built by Bill Teron in stages between 1958 and 1966: four hundred families in by 1960, another four hundred houses in 1961, over 1,700 homes in the end, and one of the first tract-housing developments in the city. Teron would not start buying the farmland that became Kanata until six years after he began here. Westcliffe Estates followed at the end of the 1960s, and the Neighbourhood Study still splits the community on exactly those two lines.
Then the Greenbelt closed around it. That is what makes this place different from Barrhaven or Stittsville. Bells Corners has fields, forest and the twenty square kilometres of Stony Swamp on three sides, permanently, because the National Capital Commission owns them and development inside them is strictly controlled. Kanata starts again beyond. What it buys is a community of 4.66 km² with an edge you can walk to, nine parks and trails at the end of the street. What it costs is that nothing can be added around the edges, so anything new has to go on Robertson Road.
Which is the live argument. The City designated the Robertson and Richmond strip a Business Improvement Area in 2009, and since spring 2025 the BIA has run Reimagining Robertson Road, a public process to spring 2026 on what a walkable main street would look like in what it calls the village in the Greenbelt. A walkshop in June 2025, a survey to that September, consultants. Whether it produces a main street or another round of drawings is the open question, and anyone buying on the strength of it should read the current stage of the file.
The honest version of the commute. There is no rail station in Bells Corners and none planned. The Line 3 extension stops at Moodie and Bayshore, both reached by bus or car, and route 57 has run from here to Bayshore and Tunney's Pasture for years. Downtown is twenty kilometres. What is close is work of a different kind: NDHQ Carling, the former Nortel campus at Carling and Moodie, holds around 9,350 National Defence staff nine minutes away, and the Queensway Carleton Hospital is on the northern edge. Ontario freezes assessments at 2016 values, so the City's published rate runs against a decade-old valuation, and the province takes its land transfer tax with no municipal one on top.
- The nearest O-Train stations will be Moodie and Bayshore, both reached by bus
- NDHQ Carling is nine minutes away with about 9,350 staff, which changes the commute maths entirely for some buyers
- The Queensway Carleton Hospital is on the northern edge, closer than for any other west-end community
- Most of Lynwood Village is 1958 to 1966. Price the windows, wiring and furnace age
- Nothing can be built around the edges, so growth has to happen on Robertson Road
- Reimagining Robertson Road runs to spring 2026. Read the current stage before pricing it in
How Bells Corners got here
- 1834–1863Hugh Bell keeps a tavern at the crossroads, on the ground the present Bells Corners Public School stands on. The junction takes his name from the traffic that stops there.
- 1851The first post office opens on 6 August and has to adopt a formal name, so the settlement becomes Bell's Corners. By 1866 it is a post village of about 150 people in Nepean Township, Carleton County.
- 1853The Union Church is built on Old Richmond Road by Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians together, on land Hugh Bell donates. It is the only structure that will survive what comes next.
- 1870Fire destroys most of Bells Corners in August. The village rebuilds, but it stays small for another eighty years.
- 1958–1966Lynwood Village goes up in stages, developed by Lloyd Francis and Donald Sim and built by Bill Teron: 400 families in by 1960, another 400 houses in 1961, more than 1,700 homes by the end. It is one of the first tract-housing developments in Ottawa, and Teron will start buying Kanata's farmland six years after he begins here.
- 1960s–1970sWestcliffe Estates begins at the end of the 1960s, much of it built by Assaly Construction, and becomes what the Neighbourhood Study now calls Bells Corners West. The Centennial library branch opens in 1967, and the National Capital Greenbelt is assembled around the community, fixing its edges permanently.
- 2001Amalgamation. The City of Nepean becomes part of the new City of Ottawa, and Bells Corners loses the council it had been arguing with and gains one twenty kilometres away.
- 2009–2026The City designates the Robertson Road and Richmond Road strip a Business Improvement Area in 2009. In 2025 the BIA launches Reimagining Robertson Road, a public process running to spring 2026 on what a walkable main street and public space would look like in what it calls the village in the Greenbelt.
The community has an edge you can walk to, permanently
The National Capital Greenbelt wraps this community on three sides, and the piece on the southern edge is Stony Swamp: about twenty square kilometres of conservation land with the Old Quarry and Jack Pine trails, groomed skiing in winter, and the tamest chickadees in Ontario. North across Corkstown Road are Wesley Clover Parks, with the equestrian grounds, a campground and a small ski hill. East off Cedarview is Bruce Pit, the largest off-leash dog park in the city. Inside the community are nine more parks and the outdoor pool at Entrance Park.
What the map does not show: the Greenbelt is the whole product and the whole constraint. It is why a 1962 bungalow here backs onto forest rather than another subdivision, and why the community cannot grow outward, which puts every density argument onto one commercial strip. It is also why the drive east is what it is: every route downtown crosses the same protected kilometres, and there is no room to widen them.
Elsewhere in Ottawa, not Bells Corners
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from a representative point near the Robertson Road crossroads, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model. Honest ranges, not routed times. Treat the downtown figures as the free-flow case: the 417 through the Greenbelt is the most reliably congested road in the region.
Every gym within reach
Entrance Park in Lynwood Village has the City's seasonal outdoor pool, with a wading pool and a diving tank, open from mid-June to the end of August. It is the only public swimming inside the community, so the winter answer is a drive: the Bayshore Community Centre across the Greenbelt, or the Kanata Recreation Complex, with two pools, two arenas and a fitness centre at municipal prices.
- Entrance Park's outdoor pool has a wading pool and a diving tank, and closes at the end of August
- The nearest year-round City pools are at Bayshore and at the Kanata Recreation Complex
- Commercial gyms sit on the Robertson Road strip rather than in the residential crescents
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Entrance Park outdoor pool open | The City's seasonal outdoor pool in Lynwood Village, with a wading pool and a diving tank, open from the middle of June to the end of August. One of nine parks inside the community, and the only public swimming inside it. | 2–4 min |
| Bayshore Community Centre open | The nearest year-round City pool and gymnasium, on Woodridge Crescent across the Greenbelt. Municipal pricing, and the default winter swim for Bells Corners households. | 7–11 min |
| Kanata Recreation Complex open | The City's west-end anchor on Walter Baker Place: a 25-metre lane pool and a leisure pool, two arenas, a gymnasium and a fitness centre, with the full City programme list. | 10–15 min |
| Stony Swamp open | The free option, and the reason people move here. Twenty square kilometres of Greenbelt on the southern edge, with the Old Quarry and Jack Pine trails, groomed cross-country skiing through the winter and chickadees tame enough to land on your hand. | 6–9 min |
The free option is Stony Swamp, and here it is genuinely at the end of the street: twenty square kilometres of Greenbelt on the southern edge, dry underfoot most of the year, groomed for skiing through the winter.
A secondary half its students transfer into
Bell High School at 40 Cassidy Road opened in 1962 and has run grades 7 to 12 since it absorbed D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate in 2018. It carries gifted, advanced placement, French immersion and English as a second language programmes, and about half its students transfer in from outside the catchment for them, on buses from Bayshore, Crystal Beach, Kanata and Barrhaven. Bells Corners Public School is the catchment elementary, on the ground where Hugh Bell kept his tavern, and Our Lady of Peace is the Catholic elementary.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bell High School | OCDSB | The public secondary at 40 Cassidy Road, opened in 1962 and running grades 7 to 12 since it absorbed D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate in 2018. It carries gifted, advanced placement, French immersion and English as a second language programmes, and roughly half its students transfer in from outside the catchment for them. |
| Bells Corners Public School | OCDSB | The catchment elementary, standing on the ground where Hugh Bell kept his tavern from 1834. Few Ottawa schools sit on the reason their neighbourhood has a name. |
| Our Lady of Peace Elementary School | OCSB | The Catholic elementary inside the community, and the feeder into the Catholic secondary system for families here. |
| Collège catholique Franco-Ouest | CECCE | The French-language Catholic secondary at 411 Seyton Drive, grades 7 to 12, with an International Baccalaureate programme. It is the French Catholic secondary for the whole west end, and it is inside this community rather than a bus ride away. |
| École secondaire publique Omer-Deslauriers | CEPEO | The French-language public secondary at 159 Chesterton Drive in Nepean, grades 7 to 12. French public schooling in the west end is thin, and this is the closest option. |
The French Catholic secondary for the whole west end, Collège catholique Franco-Ouest on Seyton Drive, is inside this community rather than a bus ride away, and runs grades 7 to 12 with an International Baccalaureate programme. The French public secondary is Omer-Deslauriers in Nepean. Confirm the catchment for a specific address with the board before you buy, because Bell takes so many students from outside its boundary that the boundary is easy to misread.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Stony Swamp's cross-country trails are groomed and are five minutes from most addresses
- Robertson Road is cleared early because it is an arterial; the Lynwood crescents behind it are not
- The bus to Tunney's Pasture is a long ride in the dark, and it is still the whole commute until the trains run
- The coldest stretch of the year, and the month a 1960s Teron bungalow shows what has and has not been upgraded
- Outdoor rinks across the nine community parks when the cold holds
- Jack Pine Trail is at its best, and the chickadees will land on your hand
- The Greenbelt trails turn to mud and stay that way for a few weeks
- March break, and Bayshore across the Greenbelt is where the teenagers go
- Sugar bushes open west of here, out towards Carp and the Ottawa Valley
- Trails closed or unpleasant while the ground thaws; Bruce Pit is the exception and stays busy
- Construction season restarts on the rail extension at Bayshore and Lincoln Fields
- The BIA's spring engagement on Robertson Road, which is the live argument in this community
- Best cycling weeks of the year, and the Greenbelt pathways connect through to the river
- Andrew Haydon Park's bandshell season starts, ten minutes up Moodie
- Garden centre traffic on Robertson Road, which is a genuine seasonal event on this strip
- Entrance Park's outdoor pool opens in the middle of the month and runs to the end of August
- Sunset near 8:50pm, and the Old Quarry trail is usable well past eight
- School ends at Bell High School, and the buses that bring in half its students stop
- Humidex days in the thirties, and the 1960s stock here mostly has retrofitted rather than original cooling
- The Queensway is briefly tolerable and a downtown drive matches the free-flow estimate
- Britannia Beach and Andrew Haydon are ten to thirteen minutes north
- Peak humidity, and the outdoor pool at Entrance Park is at capacity
- Deer and turkeys along the Greenbelt edges, which is the standing reason to slow down on Moodie at dusk
- Back-to-school traffic returns on Robertson Road in the last week
- The best hiking weeks of the year in Stony Swamp
- Bell High School fills back up, about half of it from outside the catchment
- Autumn registration at the Kanata and Nepean complexes, both of which fill quickly
- The Greenbelt woodlots turn, and the Old Quarry and Jack Pine trails are at their best
- First frost, usually in the first half of the month
- The outdoor pool has been closed for six weeks and the indoor swim means driving to Bayshore or Kanata
- Dark by half past four, and the commute becomes a two-way night drive
- The overnight winter parking ban starts, which matters little here because almost every house has a driveway
- Snow tires, and on Moodie and the 416 ramps they are not optional
- Outdoor rinks go in across the community parks once the cold holds
- Robertson Road does its best trade of the year, which is the argument the BIA has been making since 2009
- The first serious storm, and the reminder that the 417 west of the Greenbelt has no alternative route
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About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Bells Corners, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Ottawa library.