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Starting to learn about The Villages

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  #91  
Old 08-27-2023, 03:49 PM
Randall55 Randall55 is offline
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Originally Posted by RalphTheElder View Post
Randall, joining a hiking club is a great suggestion.

Actually, I belong to a hiking club where I'm living now, so I understand the benefits.

The purpose of this discussion, though, is to try to find locations in The Villages that are close to the type of hiking that I want.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. There are hiking clubs right here in the Villages. They would know best about your questions. Besides, when you do plan on hiking, you will have plenty of friends to join you.
  #92  
Old 08-27-2023, 04:00 PM
OrangeBlossomBaby OrangeBlossomBaby is offline
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Pay attention to the advice people posted here ! There is no way you could come and rent for a week near Spanish Springs, and go home saying THAT's IT, that's where we want to be... by all the major department stores, by the major highway 441 (called Orange Blossom Trail), that's nearest the Atlantic side beaches. It's just way too large to even see all the areas in one week ! Maybe you'd find you like being closer to the west, Gulf, side and the beaches on that side ? Or you'd rather have easy access to the toll way ? I don't know how anyone could ever make those decisions without time to "live their own normal life routine" first. The mind boggling numbers of people who buy, only to sell when they find another area makes more sense for them... keeps the real estate agents doing very well here....LOL ! One tip we found, not wanting to appear to give the opinion one area or one villages is "better" than another, agents will tell you there is no difference. That is not true of course. Like in any area of the country that covers many counties, you have to do your own in person or on line research to get the tax mils, the retail taxes, compare the utilities you will have to use, etc.
Actually that's exactly what convinced me to be WILLING to live in Florida again at all. We'd visited friends who live in the Villages, in a courtyard villa. One of the most non-neighborhoodly neighborhoods I'd ever seen in my life. All I could think of was "sardines in a can, SO glad I live in Connecticut, you couldn't pay me to move down here." Then hubby insisted we come for a vacation, and we rented through The Villages some patio villa somewhere off of Odell Circle near Mallory. I still felt like The Villages was 32 flavors of Stepford Wives, just not shoved into the sardine can this time.

The next time we stayed in whatever those homes are that aren't villas, but not as fancy as the Designer homes. Nice house. More Stepford. There was nothing that screamed "this is where I want to spend the rest of my life." No mature trees, no shade, no privacy between back yards, everyone's front yards looked the same - exactly three trees per property, two of which were palms, with all the same ugly ribbon cactuses in perfectly placed flower beds and not a single thing to show that "here lives someone with a personality and maybe a smidge of creative flair."

Everything was vanilla.

And then we checked the Historic Section, and spent a day in Spanish Springs. I thought - this is an actual neighborhood, with actual people who have real personalities and creativity, who don't think they're in Stepford. Yes there are some flamingo garden decorations. Most of them are sculptures and art, rather than mass produced kitch. People hanging out at each others' houses, pulling up chairs in the driveways for a cuppa, sitting on the porch or the lanai to watch the sunset or talk about the neighbor's hip replacement, getting to know the neighbors' grandkids when they come for Christmas vacation...

That's what convinced me to move to The Villages. If it weren't for this area, then yeah - I would miss my husband. But there's no way I would've come down with him.
  #93  
Old 08-27-2023, 04:17 PM
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mntlblok mntlblok is offline
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mntlblok, thank you so much for the thoughtful and constructive reply!

You speculated that I am an INTP, and you were really close. Actually, I am an INTJ, and the 'J' helps explains why I am such an 'over-planner' (in the opinions of others).

Hiking a golf course would certainly work for me, and to be honest I had not thought of that since I wasn't sure if it was allowed.

Thanks again for your kind comments.
One may *only* walk the "pitch and putts" - all down south, I believe - but the executive courses *also* have "pull carts" available for rent - for a *dollar* - all lined up right there at the starter's shack! I only tried that once - at Volusia. It had more elevation change than I was prepared for - especially when it got very slow for a "single" and I decided to walk back in halfway through. :-)

Oh, and I sorta teeter between the "P" and the "J". :-)

Last edited by mntlblok; 08-27-2023 at 04:18 PM. Reason: addendum
  #94  
Old 08-27-2023, 04:30 PM
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Originally Posted by RalphTheElder View Post
Sharon, when you say that Villages Health does not accept Medicare, are you referring to both Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs?

My research indicates that Villages Health accepts a couple of Medicare Advantage programs, but not Original Medicare.

I would like to be corrected if my understanding is wrong.
We just went through that process with Villages Health as our Humana plan from SE FL isn't available up here. Took the tour and all I could think was "too good to be true". However, the rep for United Healthcare got us all set up with their Advantage HMO program. So far, so good. No initial appointment with the primary care doc available until December, but then we both got texts recently about openings turning up within the next couple of weeks. About to have me a new, girl doctor. :-)
  #95  
Old 08-27-2023, 04:47 PM
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Originally Posted by RalphTheElder View Post
mntlblok, thank you so much for the thoughtful and constructive reply!

You speculated that I am an INTP, and you were really close. Actually, I am an INTJ, and the 'J' helps explains why I am such an 'over-planner' (in the opinions of others).

Hiking a golf course would certainly work for me, and to be honest I had not thought of that since I wasn't sure if it was allowed.

Thanks again for your kind comments.
Oops. Looks like I made an unwarranted assumption. Had assumed that you'd meant walking whilst *playing* golf. Bet you *hadn't* meant that, based on the wifey's read. Sorry. Guess I figured that my cryptic reference to Twain's description of golf being a "good walk spoiled" was *too* cryptic. :-)

Great. Now learning that I might not even have the source quote right. :-( Golf is a Good Walk Spoiled – Quote Investigator(R)

Last edited by mntlblok; 08-27-2023 at 04:50 PM. Reason: got to wondering about the fidelity of the source reference
  #96  
Old 08-27-2023, 08:11 PM
RalphTheElder RalphTheElder is offline
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Originally Posted by Randall55 View Post
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. There are hiking clubs right here in the Villages. They would know best about your questions. Besides, when you do plan on hiking, you will have plenty of friends to join you.
Actually, I understood what you were saying. I was trying to agree with you that joining a local hiking club has lots of benefits.

Last edited by RalphTheElder; 08-27-2023 at 08:16 PM.
  #97  
Old 08-27-2023, 08:13 PM
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...

The next time we stayed in whatever those homes are that aren't villas....
OrangeBlossomBaby, what is the difference between a house and a villa?
  #98  
Old 08-27-2023, 08:14 PM
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One may *only* walk the "pitch and putts" ...
I'm not a golfer. What is a pitch and putt?
  #99  
Old 08-27-2023, 08:15 PM
RalphTheElder RalphTheElder is offline
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Originally Posted by mntlblok View Post
Oops. Looks like I made an unwarranted assumption. Had assumed that you'd meant walking whilst *playing* golf. Bet you *hadn't* meant that, based on the wifey's read. Sorry. Guess I figured that my cryptic reference to Twain's description of golf being a "good walk spoiled" was *too* cryptic. :-)

Great. Now learning that I might not even have the source quote right. :-( Golf is a Good Walk Spoiled – Quote Investigator(R)
No problem. I hadn't mentioned golf and The Villages has lots of golfing going on, so you made a reasonable assumption.
  #100  
Old 08-27-2023, 08:31 PM
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When you get here you might also want to check out The Villages Hiking Club. They are affiliated with the Florida Trail Association. They go on hikes every Wednesday. The hikes are usually within an hour drive of The Villages and range from three to nine miles in length. I know you’re looking for options inside the bubble but even with everything we have here you’ll run out of new places rather quickly. The Hiking Club does a lot of carpooling so you could hitch a ride with others while you get to know the area.
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Last edited by Kenswing; 08-27-2023 at 08:38 PM.
  #101  
Old 08-28-2023, 01:45 AM
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Default Short, walking 18 hole courses

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Originally Posted by RalphTheElder View Post
I'm not a golfer. What is a pitch and putt?
Like the "executive" courses, they are made up of par three holes, but the distances from the tees to the greens are significantly shorter than what are typically found on par three holes, mostly no more than 60-100 yards or so, thus requiring only "pitch" shots off the tees. Mickylee Pitch & Putt exceeds expectations | News | The Villages Daily Sun | thevillagesdailysun.com
  #102  
Old 08-28-2023, 12:12 PM
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Originally Posted by RalphTheElder View Post
Hi Everyone.

I am a retiree and am considering moving to The Villages sometime prior 2030.

I am starting to educate myself about the geography and amenities there.

My hobbies are hiking, listening and dancing to live music, and attending theater.

So, I would like to find an area in The Villages that is both close to good hiking and also a town square. When I say 'hiking' I mean walking off pavement; that is, on wood boardwalk, decomposed granite, dirt, etc.

My impression is that a lot of the live music takes place on the town squares. Is that right?

The Sharon Rose Wiechens Preserve seems like the premium place for my hiking needs. I believe that it is in or adjacent to the neighborhood of LaBelle.

The nearest town squares to the Preserve appear to be Brownwood Paddock Square and Sumter Landing, which are about 4.5 and 6 miles from the Preserve respectively.

So, I was thinking that the neighborhood of LaBelle might best fit my needs.

Please educate me regarding any wrong assumptions that I am making .

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Following sites have a lot of information.

Village Community Development Districts
Golf The Villages
Home - Sumter County Property Appraiser
Randy Mask - Sumter County Tax Collector
The Villages
https://www.**************.com/ villages - news.com
https://sites.google.com/view/virginia-trace/home
https://www.thevillages.com/
https://www.poa4us.org/
https://www.thevha.net/
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  #103  
Old 08-28-2023, 03:30 PM
Marsha11 Marsha11 is offline
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I really can't refer a hike there. However, it's so far away in a cart to get to Sumnter, Spanish Springs and lastly brownwood. Very young people seem in the south under 40 move north, theater is all north. Film is north not south. Lovely trees etc up north not south. Buy one used up north. No bond to take. If you use agent non MLS, for Villages, we'll, not as helpfull.
  #104  
Old 08-28-2023, 04:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Marsha11 View Post
I really can't refer a hike there. However, it's so far away in a cart to get to Sumnter, Spanish Springs and lastly brownwood. Very young people seem in the south under 40 move north, theater is all north. Film is north not south. Lovely trees etc up north not south. Buy one used up north. No bond to take. If you use agent non MLS, for Villages, we'll, not as helpfull.
And in which village do you live?
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  #105  
Old 09-03-2023, 03:35 PM
Nana2Teddy Nana2Teddy is offline
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Originally Posted by RalphTheElder View Post
Shronl, thank you for the helpful reply!

You wrote, "The Villages Properties will sell you property that is out of compliance, but you are expected to spend money to bring it back into compliance. " <-- Wow, I didn't realize that was legal!

You wrote, "If you are on Medicare, the Villages Health does not take it, you have to go outside the villages to find care." <-- I did not know that! So, perhaps online research such as I am doing in this forum actually is useful!
Not true about Medicare. Plenty of doctors accept Medicare in TV. The Villages Health in particular only accepts Medicare Advantage plans for primary care doctors, but all specialists with Villages Health accept traditional Medicare + supplement plans.
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