Taunton North

Taunton North is the band of newer subdivisions between Taunton Road and Highway 407, stretching from roughly the Highway 412 corridor and Country Lane on the west to the Oshawa boundary on the east. Baldwin Street South (Highway 12) and Thickson Road North cut it into three sections. The 407 is the northern limit, with Brooklin beyond it, and the streets south of Taunton belong to Williamsburg, Pringle Creek and Rolling Acres. A phase that touches the highway or the rural fringe occasionally shows up on the MLS as Brooklin or Rural Whitby instead.

Almost every house in Taunton North dates from about 1998 onward, so the variety is in phase and builder rather than era. The earliest streets, close to Taunton Road on either side of Brock and around Thickson Road North, have two-storey homes on frontages of roughly 40 to 50 feet, with brick fronts, main-floor family rooms and attached double garages. Later phases marching north toward the 407, including the pockets off Baldwin Street South, Country Lane and the upper stretch of Thickson, tightened the frontages and added stone accents, nine-foot ceilings and walk-out basements where the grading allowed. Freehold townhouses and a smaller number of semis line the collector roads and sit beside the school sites, and a few condominium townhouse blocks with shared lanes appear in the newest sections. Bungalows are rare. Ask for the original Tarion enrolment, find out whether the basement finish and any side entrance were permitted, and check the roof and furnace on first-wave homes, which are now past twenty years old.

Most trips here begin behind the wheel, and the highway grid is what sold many residents on the location. The 407 forms the top of the community, with ramps at Baldwin Street and, further east, at Thickson Road, while the 412 connector, toll-free since 2022, carries traffic down the west flank of Whitby to the 401 and has its own exit at Taunton Road. Whitby GO sits roughly six kilometres south along Brock Street; count on ten to fifteen minutes by car when the roads are clear. On transit, the PULSE buses on Taunton Road serve the community's southern boundary, and the Brock and Baldwin corridor bus ties Brooklin, these streets and the station together. GO Transit also runs coaches that stop in the Brooklin area on the 407 corridor, reportedly on its Richmond Hill and Pearson service. Newer arterials carry sidewalks and painted bike lanes, and multi-use paths link the stormwater ponds to the parks.

Public elementary pupils go to Durham District School Board schools built inside the community, reportedly Sir Samuel Steele and Julie Payette among them; for high school, most addresses are directed to Sinclair on Taunton Road East, to Brooklin High School beyond the 407 or to Donald A. Wilson on the west side. Catholic pupils have St. Luke the Evangelist and St. Mark the Evangelist as the reported elementary choices, with All Saints on Country Lane and Father Leo J. Austin off Dryden Boulevard as the Durham Catholic high schools. Both boards offer French immersion at designated schools, and the French-language school boards serve the area from schools a short bus ride away. Each board draws its own attendance map and revises it whenever a phase opens, so confirm the current assignment for any address you are considering with the board itself.

Cullen Central Park lies just across Taunton Road on its south side, on land that held the Cullen Gardens attraction until it closed in 2006 and that the Town later acquired; it is the largest green space nearby, with trails dropping into the Lynde Creek valley, a big playground and event fields. Inside the community, neighbourhood parks with splash pads, soccer fields and basketball courts sit beside most school sites, and the stormwater ponds carry paved loops that people use for evening walks. Thermea spa village, opened in the early 2020s off Baldwin Street South near the 407, has become the area's best-known destination. Errands cluster at the foot of Baldwin Street where it meets Taunton, with grocery, pharmacy and big-box stores, and again at Thickson and Taunton. Brooklin's main street is a few minutes north for coffee and the spring fair. Hospital care is at Lakeridge Health Oshawa, and a future Whitby hospital is planned near the 407's Lake Ridge Road interchange.

Taunton North fits families who want a house built this century with a double garage, a school within the subdivision and highway access in two directions, and who are comfortable driving to almost everything, including the GO station. It also works for people who commute to Markham, Richmond Hill or north Toronto by the 407 rather than downtown by train. It suits fewer buyers who want character, mature trees or a main street within strolling distance, since the streetscapes repeat and the shade is still growing in. Buyers who notice highway noise should stand in the backyard of a lot near the 407 or Thickson before offering, and anyone wanting a bungalow will find little choice.