Vibrant mountain towns in VA with good friendly hunts?

[corgif]

I could live anywhere with a good horse scene, My husband, on the other hand, does not ride, and wants a town close by with good restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, etc. We would both like a house with good mountain views and cool/cold mountain weather along with good hiking and biking trails. We are NOT looking for a horse property, but rather something close to quality stables, training, hunting, etc. Maybe the occasional show, although I would much prefer hunter trials/paces at this stage of my life. We’ll be retired in a few years, so proximity to jobs is not a factor - YAY

I know about Charlottesville and spent a fair amount of time there showing and hunting there back in the 80’s. We are considering this area as well, however, it’s not exactly up in the mountains.

It’s just the two of us and a dog, so we don’t need a large house, however, we want something with character that we could buy or build. A half acre lot at minimum, maybe 3 acres max. Thanks!

[Texarkana]

Are there any sizeable towns “up in the mountains”? I went to college in the Blue Ridge Mountains and my in-laws are from the mountains of SW VA. All the truly mountain towns I know are bitty.

Roanoke and Lynchburg can be charming and are convenient to the Bedford County Hunt and other horsey things. Roanoke is the more mountainous, but Lynchburg and Charlottesville are easily commutable to mountainous area while being more horse friendly, IMO, so I wouldn’t rule them out. Lexington might also pique your interested, but it’s considerably smaller and more limited in terms of shops and restaurants.

Any further south than Roanoke and the horse scene drops off quickly in my experience.

[1bigPercheron]

I live in the Roanoke area. Downtown Roanoke is really hopping with a vibrant market and lots of good restaurants. This is a wonderful place to live if you like outdoor living! On the Blue Ridge Parkway and 30 min from Smith Mountain Lake. There are 2 Hunts in the area, Rockbridge and Bedford. Plenty of trails and hunter paces , that’s how my group of age 50 -something horsey friends love to spend the weekends!

[gumtree]

Sperryville west of Middleburg? Thorton Hills Hounds, they have a FB page.

Sperryville is close to many outdoor activities. The town is at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and provides access to the panorama entrance[SUP][6][/SUP] of Shenandoah National Park that provides access to Skyline Drive,[SUP][7][/SUP] which is a continuation of the Blue Ridge Parkway of the Great Smoky Mountains. Hiking spots include the popular Old Rag Mountain,[SUP][8][/SUP] White Oak Canyon,[SUP][9][/SUP] and Thornton River Trail,[SUP][10][/SUP] which are all located within the Shenandoah National Park.

[gumtree]

Sperryville west of Middleburg? Thorton Hills Hounds, they have a FB page. Love the town of Sperryville.

“Sperryville is close to many outdoor activities. The town is at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and provides access to the panorama entrance Shenandoah National Park that provides access to Skyline Drive which is a continuation of the Blue Ridge Parkway of the Great Smokey Mountains. Hiking spots include the popular Old Rag Top Mt White Oak Canyon, and Thornton River Trail, which are all located within the Shenandoah National Park”

This may end up as a double post. I copy and pasted about Sperryville from Wikipedia and included the hyper links. That post came back as “unapproved”. So I took out the hyperlinks.

[FitToBeTied]

Crozet is west of Charlottesville in the mountains and pretty central to the Farmington Hunt’s fixtures and just over in the valley to Rockbridge. Green County is in the mountains (west side) and is only 20 mins to Charlottesville. Again very accessible to Farmington Hunt and Bull Run Hunt. South of Charlottesville, 20-30 mins, is Nelson County with lots of mountains, very pretty and accessible to Farmington Hunt and Oak Ridge Hunt.

You can base outside of Charlottesville in the mountains and still take advantage of everything charlottesville has and your husband wants.

[xeroxchick]

Think about Tryon NC. Two friendly hunts, it’s beautiful, restaurants and shopping, horses abound.