First - deed restrictions vary from village to village. A lot of things people assume are "forbidden" aren't. They just have to submit the plan to ARC and wait for them to sign off on it before they start the work. Things like expanding a driveway, or selecting a new color for the house. In most cases you can do those things. But you have to select colors within a palate that already exists for the purpose, and the driveway has to fit within certain parameters after the work's completed.
Other things are restricted or forbidden - you can't remove your perimeter wall in a courtyard villa. You can't put up a fence around your designer home in the Village of Bonita. You can't put lawn decorations in /most/ of The Villages but there are some areas where that restriction doesn't exist - mostly in the "Historic Section."
If you WANT to live in a neighborhood where all your neighbors must conform to the same standard of care, design, color, scheme, then there are neighborhoods for you here. If you WANT to live in a neighborhood where you have lots of wiggle-room to exercise your creativity, imagination, and interests, there are neighborhoods for you here as well.
Personally I love the old section. I like seeing the different personalities of homeowners displayed on their yards, in the color schemes of their houses, in the painted designs on their driveways. It's not for everyone, but you couldn't pay me to live in a courtyard villa where you're basically a sardine living in a nicely-painted can, sitting on a bed of rocks. Some people like that cookie-cutter concept though.
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