What do you like/not like about Round Hill? (Centreville: spring break, lawyer)

[puckish]

For those of you who live in or around Round Hill and Purcellville, please tell me what you like about the area. We've just purchased a property in Round Hill and will be moving in March. I've looked at the town's website and done a little bit of research of both Round Hill and Purcellville (we were looking to buy in Purcellville before we found the house in Round Hill), but I wanted some perspective from people who live or have lived there that won't necessarily show up on a town website.

What's really cool about Round Hill? What don't you like so much? How tightly is Round Hill tied to Purcellville, and what's good and bad about that?

We currently live in western Fairfax County, have spent a good bit of our weekends for the last few weeks poking around Round Hill and Purcellville. We have five kids and a kind of crunchy sensibility. Hubby is a web developer who works in McLean (yeah, we know, the drive) and I'm a stay-at-home mom who picks up writing gigs once in a while. I'd love to hear about things that pertain particularly to the way we live, but I am also interested in any other input even if it doesn't relate to kids, hippieness, etc.

[5stones]

not much in Round Hill but houses. (they do have a small grocer I believe) You will have to go into Purceville for big grocery store, resturants, stores etc...But not alot either. For more major shopping/ entertainment you will have to go into Leesburg.


The commute as you know will be a BEAR, the back up on rt7 at the rt15 interchange can get pretty nasty esp on Friday evenings. The Dullas toll road would be a big help but it will be $$$ to take every day. Commute from Rt15 and Rt7 in Leesburg was 60-90min.(on rt7) On bad days your husband is looking at about 2hours. during bad rush hour it can take 30minutes+ to get from the rt15 interchange in Leesburg to round hill. Since my hubby also worked in Leesburg that was the clencher for us, to much gas $$$ and too much commute time. (Leesburg was bad enough for 2 years)

Frankly there really isn't much to Round hill at all.
I think you will find that you will spend alot of time in purceville and Leesburg and traveling back and forth.


Purceville has a very nice small downtown area. Great community pool/park (Franklin park)and a very nice roller rink for kids.

Purceville has a public library, teen center, etc... The WO&D trail starts there and you can bike etc... Very pretty from Purceville to Leesburg.

Leesburg has IDA LEE rec center which is very nice and has loads of activites etc...
Leesburg is also the county seat so it has all the county govt buildings, court house etc... if you need that etc..

here's the town of round hill website...Town of Round Hill, Loudoun County, Virginia
purceville... Purcellville, VA - Official Website
leesburg... Welcome to the Official Web Site of the Town of Leesburg - Leesburg, Virginia (HOME)

we really miss living in loudoun county, it is very pretty etc... Good luck

[puckish]

Thanks for your input! We don't mind there not being much to do - we're homebodies, and even more now that the recession is settling in. What things we do tend to be cheap or free, outdoors, and family-oriented.

Like I said, we've spent some pretty significant time around Purcellville and Round Hill, and a little less time around Leesburg, on the weekends. We haven't sampled much in the way of the parks or library or the arts center, and we know nothing of the schools but that they're highly rated on greatschools.net. We offered on two houses close to the W&OD (one house you could see the trail from the back yard - that one was in Leesburg).

Does anyone know about the farmer's market in Purcellville? We're going tomorrow to check out the year-round one in the town hall parking lot. But I think there's another one during the growing season across from the train station? Or is there just the one farmer's market now, the year-round one? Anyone with personal experience with the schools (especially the elementary school in Round Hill and the middle school in Purcellville), I'd love to hear what you think about the curricula, the teachers, the student:teacher ratios, etc.

OK, and here's one for those of you who drive around in the mornings, since we haven't yet gotten out to see what the weekday commute is. I have two children of whom I share custody with my ex-husband, who lives in Fairfax County. Two weeks of each month, I will have to drive the kids in to their Fairfax County schools (no, their father won't even hear of their going to schools outside of Fairfax County, even if the schools aren't rated as highly as the schools near our new property). There are several different options for getting from Round Hill to Centreville, which is where I'll have to go. Which is best?

1. Route 7 to Dulles Greenway to 28 S to Centreville. (Expensive, traffic on 28 is bad in that direction)
2. Airmont Road to Snickersville Turnpike to 50 (how bad is traffic on 50 at 7:15 in the morning, going west to east?)
3. Airmont to Snickersville to Lime Kiln Road to 15 to 50 (how bad is traffic on route 15?)
4. Route 7 to 15 to 50

There are other variations, but I'm not at all familiar with the traffic flow on Route 15? How does the traffic on that road compare to traffic on 28 and 50? I'm familiar with traffic on 28, but not at all Routes 7, 15, or 50. If you had to drive to Centreville or thereabouts from Round Hill or Purcellville, which way would you go?

So much appreciation for your insights, and I'd love to hear other perspectives on the various little things about living in western Loudoun County.

[Denton56]

It's a very small town area, and more outdoorsy than Fairfax. Horses and farms are HUGE. People out here are more laid back and when they ask what you do, they don't mean your job, they couldn't care less. They are asking what you are interested in. Do you do art? Do you rid horses? History? Gardening? Are you into farming cattle? Politics? Kids? Hiking? Birdwatching? Dog breeding? Horse breeding? Seen any bears? No any good horse trails up Short Hill Mountain? Are you a been here or a come here? Some folks have been in these parts for over 200 years.

You'll see more riding clothes at the Giant. Most folks drive a truck or an SUV, and usually dirty because their ranches/farms/barns/horses are dirty. People won't be impressed by what you drive or what you did in DC. They won't care where you went to college, or if you even went to college. Most people are old fashioned conservatives. Every precinct in Western Loudoun county voted for McCain and Frank Wolf. I saw Oliver North in the Giant in Purcellville, he lives out your way. But some of the teenagers at the Giant and at Valley High liked Obama.

Hippies? Hahahahahaha..........sorry, none here. I don't think they were here even in the 1960's, although there is that strange lady in the Giant who has a beard. She might have been a hippy, 50 years ago or more.

Your kids will love it here, the schools are good and the kids are happy. And well above average. (Just kidding on that last part.)

[Denton56]

Wait, I just read your post that your kids will have to go to school in FC. What a bummer. All their friends will live so far away and it will be so hard for them to make friends in Loudoun. Most houses out here are not close to each other. It's hard to make friends who live across 5 or 10 acres. Can you possibly get the court order changed so that your kids can go to school where they live? Or are the kids forced to live in two places every month? I hope not, for their sake. Everyone deserves a home of their own, ONE place they call home, especially children.

[puckish]

Denton56, thank you, thank you! Everything you said in your post about western Loudoun makes me so happy we bought where we did. It sounds like exactly the sort of place we will feel at home and happy. (We are so NOT Type A types. Very not status-conscious.) Only difference I see in sensibilities is that we're pretty liberal.

My older two kids do split their time between their dad's home and ours. Believe me, I wish it could be otherwise, and the fact that it isn't shows what a crock the court system can be, because he was abusive to me and I don't believe people like that should be around kids, especially not once their object of abuse (the spouse) has left their lives. But the courts saw fit to give him equal custody, and while he's still a very unpleasant person, he's not as bad as he was when the courts split custody. However, the house we've bought is in a subdivision, standard quarter-acre or smaller lots, so the big kids will have a chance to get to know the neighbors. And we have three smaller children who will be full-time Round Hill natives.

I am so excited to hear that that whole driven personality, the "what do you do?" means what you're paid to do and what you're driving and how expensive is your house and your kids' school is NOT a part of western Loudoun. I'd really hoped moving out would eliminate some of that Type A stuff from our lives. We're gardening grubby folk who like bluegrass (have any of you been to the bluegrass jams?) and just plain living, which sounds horribly folksy when I type it out like that, but really, we are just regular people who don't get off on showing people up or showing off our status symbols. From what you're saying, we'll fit right in.

Bears? Are there really bears around? That would be so awesome. As much time as I've spent in Shenandoah National Park, I still have never seen a bear in the wild.

[5stones]

consult your lawyer. you might get the situation changed since you have moved.

I know my sis who has joint custody with her ex became the "primary care giver" when she moved. That means the child lives with her during the week and alternates weekends/holidays at her Dads. She has every spring break with him and 2 weeks (along with the every other weekend thing) in the summer.

If the kids are over 12 I believe they can choose who they want to live with as a "primary". So this could backfire on you and your husband would become the "primary" since you choose to move outside of thier school district. (but family court usually give primary to the mother)

But it would be worth it to consult with your lawyer about changing the custody agreement.

Driving into Centerville every month for 2 weeks will be a major hardship not only on you but on your smaller children as well. How are you going to get them to school on time in Round Hill if you are driving into Fairfax at the same time? I can't even do that with 3 kids in the same city...someone has to be dropped off early etc...

[puckish]

I will check with my attorney. My older kids are 9 and 10, and I am willing to let them choose now if they have a preference of primary. Not sure their dad would let them choose.

My little kids are all under school age and will be for a while yet. There are several years to resolve the conflicting school situation. Also, my ex is moving soon, just don't know exactly where yet. Perhaps I can put a bug in the big kids' ears and they can persuade him to move to South Riding or somewhere closer than Centreville.

[5stones]

Sounds like you are being very flexable and having the younger ones not in yet will make the trek easier. For at least the rest of this school year.

Check out IDA rec center in Leesburg they have TONS of programs for kids of all ages. swimming lessons, guided nature walks etc...

We found the entire area to be extremely kid friendly and offer just about every activity or fun program for the kids.
Schools were excellent etc...

Good luck.

[Denton56]

Yes, we had a bear here in my neighborhood last year. But heck, we had a bear in Vienna too, right outside the high school. We have a great many birds in western Loudoun too, lots of hawks, and bluebirds. We had a flock of wild turkeys right down the road, but they seem to have flown the coop. So to speak.

I forgot to add, LOTS of people out here home school. I'd say at least half of my neighborhood home schools, although they are not religious types, all kinds of other reasons for home schooling.

Large families out here too, like your's. Most of my neighbors have 3 to 6 kids, with one family having 9! You'll fit right in!