Tell me about Hidden Valley Schools and Floyd - here & checking things out (Roanoke: rent)

[livetolive]

We are in Roanoke and so far so good. Saturday will start our 2 full days to research the areas. Today we found plenty of places to dine, already went to the Market, I did expect more for some reason, but I am a little tough to please as I have been to many "Markets" in the Northeast. I am not totally into quaint and charming for year round shopping, and tend to like more modernized places to shop.

Spun through Roanoke County and Floyd, I think Salem also, took notice of all the stores, and some neighborhoods right off that main road that Red Lobster and the car dealerships are on. Tried to drive up to Hidden Valley High, but they block it off. We liked the homes around Valley Dr and Club Lane. The homes around these streets and the type of neighborhood kind of is what we like. We liked some of the newer office buildings we saw also.

Any comments on Hidden Valley and the Floyd & Salem area. I have read some posts on Floyd, it's getting confusing. What schools go with what towns? I think I am researching a lot and getting confused as to what school goes to what area. lol

[mccamp]

I don't know much about Floyd. I do know that every single person I talk to who lives in Floyd doesn't want to live anywhere else. That's good.

Hidden Valley is excellent. Salem, too. You can't go wrong with either place. We toured the schools in both districts and were impressed with the level of teaching, the curriculum and the students. (We ultimately chose the city school system for various reasons.)

Hidden Valley is Southwest County. Salem is it's own entity--it's actually considered a small city.

If you hit the Market tomorrow (Saturday), you'll see that it's bigger than what you saw today. Saturdays are big downtown. (Here's a hint: Go to Mill Mountain Coffee for lunch (down the street from the market. If you can't find it, please ask. They'll point you in the right direction. There you'll find nice people who will give you all kinds of insider info about the area. That's what we did.)

Hope this helps.

[Erin1264]

Hidden Valley schools are excellent!

I don't know much about Floyd either, I'm sorry. But when we were looking at houses before we moved here, the realtor we drove around with said "this is why you don't want to live in Floyd" and drove us up Bent Mountain (Rte. 221) and just about scared me to death! LOL.

Basically, we were working in Roanoke and Salem and the drive to/from Floyd was a little too much for us.

[Lopeses]

Floyd County is absolutely amazingly beautiful...but it might not be your kind of thing if you like modern office buildings .

I think too that one of the things that keeps Floyd the way it is, is that it IS hard to get to. Sadly, places like that eventually turn into suburbia if they are convenient.

[matthews1965]

Floyd is remote and rural and a growing artist haven (music too). It's a great day trip - but to live there is to understand the commute to Roanoke and other factors. If you want to be close to the action that exists you may want to check out South Roanoke, Raleigh Court in addition to fabulous Roanoke County.

[livetolive]

The area of Roanoke County near and around where Hidden Valley High is, seemed to be the area of interest for us. Drove through some of the streets were the homes were and we liked many of the homes in that area.

Thanks for all the info, and just to mention, a few people we asked, had good things to say about Hidden Valley, and a few of the people were not originally from VA.

It's hard to take a leap to moving to any area where you know no one, but I have to say, most everyone we spoke to were so great, what a pleasure it was to talk to people who did not think you had an agenda just because you were friendly to them. Were we live now, people hardly look at each other.

Thanks for all the info folks, we have a lot to think about.

[matthews1965]

I'm glad to hear that you have found what we treasure most - our people!!! And a great area in Roanoke County!!!! Welcome ya'll!!!!

[livetolive]

Originally Posted by matthews1965

I'm glad to hear that you have found what we treasure most - our people!!! And a great area in Roanoke County!!!! Welcome ya'll!!!!

Oh yes, we just loved the people and we were only there for a few days. Unfortunately our stay was cut a little short as there were a bunch of obnoxious animals that were booked at our Hotel the 2nd night of our 3 night stay, they were a large group from VA Tech. It was a nightmare and scary, and we were exhausted the next day, because we were up all night because of the noise. They ruined everyones's stay that night.

But back to my main point, lovely lovely people and I like the ya'll. We loved the VA accent. It would be wonderful to live amongst people who are like ya'll in Roanoke. As a female it was so nice to start a conversation with another woman that didn't look you up and down when you talked to them, like many do in the northeast.

We will still be doing our research on the area, and then when our house sells, we will be able to focus more on an actual move. We will rent first, then buy. We will not be one of those families who relocate to an area without doing research and then get there and complain about everything where they moved to. It's like that were we live now and we cannot stand all the bad attitude from some of the people that relocated here. Thanks to all of you who have been providing helpful info throughout all these months we have been inquiring.