[ferretlady4719]

We're hopefully going to be coming back home in the next few months. We've been looking around online & choosing different areas to check out once we get back down there. Even though I lived in FL most of my life, there are plenty of spots I'm not familiar with, so I was hoping perhaps someone here lives in one of these towns & could give me some input.

In particular, three of the places we've looking at are in Winter Haven, Dundee, and Lake Placid. Anyone from these towns, can you tell me anything about the areas? Thanks in advance for any help.

We're looking for quiet & peaceful - no need for "nightlife", fine dining, fancy shopping, etc. We want to be generally in the central FL area, so we'll have relatively easy access to either coast. The more water around (lakes, rivers, etc), the better. Prefer south of Orlando, rather than north (but not all the way down to south FL) Natural beauty outdoors is our 'entertainment' - not "city stuff".

Especially interested in any info about Dundee & Lake Placid as I can't find out as much about them as I can about Winter Haven.

Jobs/schools aren't an issue for us personally, we have no kids, hubby is now retired & I do my "work" online.

Thanks so much for any info!

[Nomadicus]

Originally Posted by ferretlady4719

We're hopefully going to be coming back home in the next few months. We've been looking around online & choosing different areas to check out once we get back down there. Even though I lived in FL most of my life, there are plenty of spots I'm not familiar with, so I was hoping perhaps someone here lives in one of these towns & could give me some input.

In particular, three of the places we've looking at are in Winter Haven, Dundee, and Lake Placid. Anyone from these towns, can you tell me anything about the areas? Thanks in advance for any help.

We're looking for quiet & peaceful - no need for "nightlife", fine dining, fancy shopping, etc. We want to be generally in the central FL area, so we'll have relatively easy access to either coast. The more water around (lakes, rivers, etc), the better. Prefer south of Orlando, rather than north (but not all the way down to south FL) Natural beauty outdoors is our 'entertainment' - not "city stuff".

Especially interested in any info about Dundee & Lake Placid as I can't find out as much about them as I can about Winter Haven.

Jobs/schools aren't an issue for us personally, we have no kids, hubby is now retired & I do my "work" online.

Thanks so much for any info!

Dundee is a cross roads community and more like a suburb of Winter Haven. All I know of Lake Placid is it is near nice lakes and is on the fringe of an expanse of no development. Due south is a 12 mile bear crossing zone. Winter Haven I thinks has fine medical facilities and very good everyday shopping for groceries and such. Dundee being located on US 27 is not far from the state of the art Florida Hospital located at Celebration south of Orlando. HTH.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by ferretlady4719

We're hopefully going to be coming back home in the next few months. We've been looking around online & choosing different areas to check out once we get back down there. Even though I lived in FL most of my life, there are plenty of spots I'm not familiar with, so I was hoping perhaps someone here lives in one of these towns & could give me some input.

In particular, three of the places we've looking at are in Winter Haven, Dundee, and Lake Placid. Anyone from these towns, can you tell me anything about the areas? Thanks in advance for any help.

We're looking for quiet & peaceful - no need for "nightlife", fine dining, fancy shopping, etc. We want to be generally in the central FL area, so we'll have relatively easy access to either coast. The more water around (lakes, rivers, etc), the better. Prefer south of Orlando, rather than north (but not all the way down to south FL) Natural beauty outdoors is our 'entertainment' - not "city stuff".

Especially interested in any info about Dundee & Lake Placid as I can't find out as much about them as I can about Winter Haven.

Jobs/schools aren't an issue for us personally, we have no kids, hubby is now retired & I do my "work" online.

Thanks so much for any info!

I'd go with Winter Haven. This is a beautiful smaller city or large town that has the chain-of lakes. You have Cypress Gardens here and it is an easy drive to beautiful Lake Wales. The restored downtown is absolutely charming, and I am so impressed with the beautiful new library. Honestly of the 3 towns, for me this would be a no brainer, it is also much more conveniently located to larger cities such as Lakeland, Orlando and Tampa.

I have not been to Lake Placid, but it is further away from larger cities and is a pretty small town from what I understand. It does have all the murals downtown, but then so does Lake Wales. I really know zero about Dundee.

Hope this little bit helps!

[mango23]

Originally Posted by ferretlady4719

We're hopefully going to be coming back home in the next few months. We've been looking around online & choosing different areas to check out once we get back down there. Even though I lived in FL most of my life, there are plenty of spots I'm not familiar with, so I was hoping perhaps someone here lives in one of these towns & could give me some input.

In particular, three of the places we've looking at are in Winter Haven, Dundee, and Lake Placid. Anyone from these towns, can you tell me anything about the areas? Thanks in advance for any help.

We're looking for quiet & peaceful - no need for "nightlife", fine dining, fancy shopping, etc. We want to be generally in the central FL area, so we'll have relatively easy access to either coast. The more water around (lakes, rivers, etc), the better. Prefer south of Orlando, rather than north (but not all the way down to south FL) Natural beauty outdoors is our 'entertainment' - not "city stuff".

Especially interested in any info about Dundee & Lake Placid as I can't find out as much about them as I can about Winter Haven.

Jobs/schools aren't an issue for us personally, we have no kids, hubby is now retired & I do my "work" online.

Thanks so much for any info!

You have to realize you are coming to Florida and Florida has bugs. Just so you know ahead of time. I have spent time in Lake Placid and many of the towns inland around lakes. In the evening the bugs can drive you indoors. I once was sitting looking out on a lake and it was like a switch was turned on. Just as the sun went down we actually had to run to the car to escape the no-see-ems. I was up in north Florida looking at property and after walking the property my wife and I had ticks all over us. It was a bit of a turn off and a little insight into moving from a city to a rural area. Like everything, there are trade offs. Having said that I like lake Placid.

[ferretlady4719]

Oh yeah - FL has it's bugs, that's for sure! Sunscreen & bug repellent were constant staples living in FL.

From what I've seen, Winter Haven does look nice, the chain of lakes is particularly appealling. We're not sure if it might be "bigger" than what we want, or growing too fast though... What's the deal with the CSX stuff coming into the area? That kinda concerned me....

In particular, we're concerned about future growth - I know there's no magic ball that can predict how ANY area might grow in the future - but we'd like to get somewhere that's not highly likely to "outgrow" us & get too big in the future. We want this move to be IT -- no more moving around for this gal... I just want to stay put in one place the rest of my life. (That's probably a pipe-dream, but it's a hope, nonetheless...)

That's why more remote places like Lake Placid appealed to us also -- a little more isolated, further away from the cities, maybe not quite as much chance of serious future growth/development?

Of course, we're going to be checking everything out thoroughly in person once we're there, we're just trying to get some ideas ahead of time.....

Thanks for your input -- any further ideas/thoughts are greatly welcomed!!!

[Nomadicus]

Look at the rural area east of Dundee. Rustic but close to needs. Horse and cattle land.

[gypsychic]

I think Lake Wales is nice too - it's pretty small, has a cute downtown and lots of beautiful lakes. Bok Tower is there, and I think it's one of the most beautiful attractions Florida has to offer.

I really don't know what is going to happen with CSX, but I know the Sun Rail was recently shot down. Bottom line, if CSX build their terminal in Winter Haven, there will be growth all along the "ridge" towns.

Just curious - how did you narrow it down to these three towns?

[ferretlady4719]

It's been a long time since I've last been there, but I agree - Bok Tower is absolutely awesome! It's at the very top of our list of places to visit once we're back. If the Gardens are still nearly as beautiful as I remember, it is indeed a wonderful place - and the tower & carillon are incredible...Bok Tower & such places are my idea of a enjoyable day's outing to an "attraction" - not Disney, Universal, etc

It's not narrowed down to ONLY those three locations - at the moment, we've spotted places we like in those three towns, and like the areas from what little we can tell so far.... but we're totally flexible & will continue looking around online until the day we leave. Those three areas are on our list presently, as far as places we want to check out, but I'm sure there will be others.

The only thing that we're pretty much dead-set on at this point is being more or less central, as there are places on both coasts we plan to frequent, being out & away from any of the big cities & crowds, and nearby or right on water. LOL, I'd live on the water full-time in a houseboat if I had my way!

[Nomadicus]

East of Lake Wales is Lake Kissimmee with Grape Hammock. You can doc a pontoon or house boat there. From there you can cruise to either coast.