Any village too far?
 

Just got back from a three day "freestyle" visit. Did all my traveling via automobile. My question is are there any villages or locations that are "too far" away for a golf cart from the things that make the villages what you guys like about the place? For example my impression of the newest lots available are a long golf cart ride to Lake Sumter and Brownwood town centers. And I think a long way from the Regional Rec center too. What about shopping locations?

What do you think? What about where you live? I'd like to put the truck in the garage and rarely use it. Thanks.

Phil Bailey
(airbear)

To me, anything north of Springdale and south of Hillsborough is pretty far via cart. However, all villages are doable with a gas cart. Just depends how much travel time you consider too long -- I can make it from Calumet Grove to Brownwood in about 45 minutes going slightly over the speed limit (around 21 mph) via cart.

That's why we are so happy to have purchased a pre owned home. We are right in the middle. Very convenient to everything we want.

We use our gas cart to go anywhere in the villages in most weather. I like to leave the car parked as much as possible. We enjoy the ride and in most cases find it easier to find a place to park. I guess golf cart usage is up to each individual's wants and needs.

In the Villages no matter where you live, you are close to a rec center and golf courses. Shopping is located on the three main arteries, 441/27, 466 and 466A.

There is a brand new wonderful regional rec center being built right now in the newest part named for John Rohan, our recreation director for the last twenty years, and someone told me that the theme would be the history of The Villages. How cool is that???

Decide on the model you want and the view or lack of it and decide whether you want new or used. They both cost about the same.

Hmmm!...If it is a golf cart ride..
 

there are areas that would be a bit much, but you can always get in your car and rent a cart for golf. We enjoy our area, real close to big box stores, bowling, many many restaurants and golf courses that we enjoy, not to mention the greatest neighbors! I'm sure that many will say the same thing about their village also.

I can get in my car and drive to Orlando in the same length of time it will take you to cart from the southern villages to Lopez. I don't consider Orlando to be part of my living community but rather a reachable location for special situations. Only you can decide how long a ride is too long.

???

Oops! I edited my original post. I meant to say: "we". Not "few". Anyway it is all a matter of personal preference.

I concur.

You will enjoy the ride.

I have a 48 volt electric cart with Ranger batteries. We live in the Historic District. We can go from home to Brownwood in our cart, but it would take about 45 minutes or more.

The squares are all a bit different but do have some of the same stores and restaurants. The shopping around the squares is very similar. There is a Publix and a Winn Dixie a short distance from each of the squares.

Lake Sumter Landing is the most centrally located so it's a reasonable cart ride from the north or the south. We mostly go to Spanish Springs but if there is entertainment in LSL we'll take the cart there. If we want to go to Brownwood, we usually take the car unless we just want a long, leisurely cart ride.

The newest available lots are close to Brownwood. LSL is a reasonable cart ride, but Spanish Springs is probably a car ride for most people.

You'll find once you live here, you'll tend to do most of your shopping and activities in your area. If you live north, you'll mostly go to SS and occasionally LSL. If you live central, you'll find yourself most often in LSL but sometimes in the other two squares . If you live south, especially in the newest areas, you'll probably spend most of your time at Brownwood and sometimes LSL.

One of the things that surprised me is how far the built Brownwood from LSL. It's three miles from SS to LSL and about six miles from LSL to Brownwood. I am also curious as to why they built a square at the very edge of The Villages. It would seem to me that Brownwood it would have been better to locate Brownwood three miles south of LSL thereby giving people on both side a three mile or less trip to either square.

But, no matter where you live you are also fairly close to a square.

Here is a rec center map.
http://www.districtgov.org/departmen...ges/RecMap.pdf
Shopping and dining map.
http://thevillages.com/lifestyle/shoppingdiningmap.asp

Belvedere to Belle Glade took 45mins by electric cart. Was a beautiful ride through areas we hadn't seen before. Don't know exact mileage but would imagine it's about 12mls - one day we'll measure it. Still plenty of charge left.

Went from Brownwood to Spanish Springs gas cart 19.5 mph just under 45 minutes. Next trip will be from Brownwood to Mulberry Rec. and then back across the bridge to Paradise Park. Sort of my tribute to Charles Lindbergh.:crap2:

My guess is they built Brownwood down on State route 44 to take advantage of the commercial possibilities. What Village to buy in? To me it all depends on what your interests and hobbies are. For example, if you are a golfer and golf 3 or 4 times a week you want to consider locating accordingly. If you like the activities offered at the Regional Centers, closer to a Regional Center makes sense. If dancing and eating along with shopping---then close to a Square might appeal to you. Well, you get my point.

Overall, as I look at The Villages, there is "something" for everyone and a home "priced" for just about everyone that can afford to retire. Bottom line---you can get to any of the activities offered in The Villages by golf cart---just might take you a bit longer from one property location than another.

I think they put Brownwood where they did to draw more locals.

We are south of 466A, off Pinellas. When we go up to Lopez or Spanish Springs we take the car.

BINGO!
Bought right in the middle, with shade and mature landscaping everywhere...you can keep the desert. Preowned...preloved!

my wife and I decided anything north of 466 along buena vista was too far. Very few swimming pools, a handful of executive courses and long cart drives to any of the town centers. That was just our opinion however. Many folks love those areas.

We are south of 466a (Dunedin) and love it. Brownwood is a short cart ride away and Lake Sumter is about 20 minutes away via cart (if we go to SS we go by car). We have pools out of the ying yang, two regional (soon to be three) centers + multiple village centers a few within minutes drive, we are very close to 15 executive courses with 4 more on the way, and there are four championship courses within 10 minutes. Being in a new neighborhood has benefits too. Because we are new we have a very active social group since most folks are looking to make connections.

We live in Gilchrist just south of 466A.
We take the car when we go to SS or 441 for the
Stores.
Going to LSL isn't that far and we are 3 miles from Brownwood.
You will find most people in this section have gas golf carts.
What was more important to us was getting a certain model
and that house only existed where we bought.

A anywhere you decide to live in T.V. will be good.

We live south of 466A, less than 10 minutes from Brownwood. We use our electric carts to go everywhere. I have a morning tee time at Lopez on Wednesday and the ride in the cart will be about an hour. As a previous poster stated, it is a matter of personal preference. We prefer carts because we get to enjoy the ponds, plants, people and other sights and sounds that you miss when using a car. There are a lot of people here that are always in a hurry so they take cars when the ride is outside their local area. I don't think you will ever know how far is too far until you jump in the cart and go find out.

Now that I've been here for about 2 years I had to rethink things.

I live close to Brownwood but rarely go to any of the squares. [I was warned this would happen.]
I bought here for resale value being close to a square.
I rented a golf cart for 2 months and did not like driving it any more than 15 minutes. I don't own a cart. I bike.
I love my smart car and walk all the execs. My car is cool in the summer and warm in the winter and I'll drive anywhere to play the execs but not the turnpikes.

All the cool places are up north. The woodshop, archery, bowling, air guns, croquet, aldi's, fresh market, softball [ i don't play, polo i don't watch, shows and plays i don't attend] and some more I can't think of.

There is hardly any traffic this far south. That's good.
Biking is great down here too.

I wonder what will happen when the newest area is built out. All those homes and not many more golf courses.

One aspect to consider is what activities you will be participating in. I play softball and participate in track and field. Both activities are near the high school. I have friends in both sports who live south of 466a and wish they didn't because they end up taking the car. When you have to be at there early in the morning, it's a pain to leave before daylight for a 45 minute ride.

We are not ready to make the move to TV but I am a consummate planner, so with my interests being the swim team, life long learning courses, and being able to easily attend frequent services at the RC Church, and hubby enjoys woodworking what villages would allow not too long cart rides to these activities ? Also, after looking at a gazillion floor plans I pretty much have my heart set on the older model Anna Maria villa with the kitchen breakfast nook so I guess most are located further north than south ?

Thanks in advance for your input.

We like to take our car most places. We live in Sanibel. Just our preference. Our friends use their golf cart to go everywhere.

Hope you have a small truck, my F150 wouldn't fit unless I turned it crossways.

Lynnhaven is perfect. 4 minute cart ride to family pools Pimlico and Churchill Downs. 2 minute cart ride to adult pools Belvedere and lynnhaven and ashland. 6 minutes by cart to lake Sumter Landing and 14 minutes to Spanish springs. 4 minute cart ride to Publix. 7 minutes to Walmart or steak and shake. Perfect location for me!

I would do research on the village based on it being friendly ~ I think it's easy to get around in a golf cart...even if it takes 45 minutes. The places that are 45 min away aren't places we would go to on a daily routine & if we did we're not in a hurry!

How would you do research on the village based on it being friendly?

A mid-Villages location - convenient to everything! :pepper2:

The only time i take my car out is when i need to leave the reservation, i can go from one extreme end of the Villages, to the other, on a single charge in my Golf Cart.

I drive my car every 2 weeks to keep the battery up. The cart is the way for me. I go everywhere I need and enjoy the trip.

I live in Duval and like it but wish I was closer to the shopping areas. If I were buying again, I'd look at Winifred, Tall Trees, Belvedere....

Any Village too far? Too far from what? It all depends on what is important to you.

Too far from what - that is a good point. I knew someone that wanted to be close to Walmart. That would not be on my agenda. But I wanted to be near golf courses, shopping, and town squares. So we lucked out when we bought centrally near Lake Sumter. I'm near a grocery store, many golf courses and pools around, and a 15 min. golf cart ride to Spanish Springs, or 5 minutes to Sumter Landing. Brownwood is probably 25-30 minutes in a golf cart so we take the car. If you plan on playing softball you may want to live near the softball facilities. If you're an archer, near the archery facilities. Everyone has different desires and needs. If you're not sure, you won't make a mistake buying preowned that is central.

We came down last year and rented in two villages one by LSL for a month (Virginia Trace) and then one in Hemmingway. Finally decided that hubby was going to play the nines a lot and the 18's once a week. We then rented this year in a Village near his favorite nines. We then started looking in a radius of that area. We saw much better deals on preowned up by 466 both north and just south of it but decided for us that the extra 20 min each way in a golf cart early every morning (hubby likes really early T-times) would be best avoided if we could. There are a couple of villages way east on 466 (La Zamora comes to mind) that when I looked at a map I didn't think were golf cart friendly, but there probably is a trick to navigating in and out and that bridge over 441 to the Historic section freaks me out.

Are you interested in pre owned? If yes thinking most the exrtra are done and I think Hadley,Amelia, Mallory,Duval,Heminway, these area are really close to almost anything and all the squares

All villages are "golf cart" friendly.

There is a lot to be said for being close to Spanish Springs. All areas in TV have access to rec centers, golf, pools, grocery stores, etc. However, Spanish Springs seems to be where most of the unique things are: bowling alleys, Katie Bell's, Cattlebaron, concerts at the to-be-opened Church on the Square performing arts center, wood shop, shopping at the big box stores. The second best area for unique things might be the area around the high school - especially if you are interested in Life Long Learning Center courses.

However, there is also a lot to be said for being in a new house in a new neighborhood - frienships just being formed; no active cliques established.