Moving to Virginia, want to find nice small rural town with horse property (Richmond: to rent, home)

[Tarheel1323]

My girlfriend is graduating from Pharmacy School next April. We are looking to move to Virginia. We would like to move a nice small town/country area that has horse property. Will probably look to rent first or board horses then look for land or farm land to buy. I would like the place to not be to far from a decent sized city. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance for your input.

[VA Yankee]

You might want to consider Ashland outside of Richmond. Pleny of acres for horses, a small town with the necessary ammenities and Metro Richmond is only @20 minutes away. For a more urban enviroment
Washington DC is just over an hour north. Do you know where you'll be employed?

[Tarheel1323]

Thank you for the information, I will definitely look into that area. Do not know exactly where she will be employed. She has a lot of opportunities all over the state from talking with her recruiters. She will probably sign on with a Rite Aid location though. I am trying to gather up information and we will more then likely travel down there a few days to check out different areas.

[BrianLMA]

You can find horse property in many cities/towns in Hampton Roads. I just did a quick search for land that is zoned for horses and came up with almost 400 properties, ranging in price from $3,000 to over $1,000,000 depending on the lot size and location.

As a side note, my sister is a pharmacist for Walgreens and absolutely loves it! She's been working there forever and has a great schedule - she works for 10 days straight then has 10 days off. Basically she is off for half of the year...must be nice...anyway, your girlfriend may want to look into them. It seems that there is a Walgreens (or two or three) in every town around here.

[jhrichmond]

Powhatan County is on Richmond's outskirts and is a fabulous place to live and to raise horses. Discover Powhatan Va 23139

[Rhett_Butler]

Look in Clarke, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties. All a reasonable distance from D.C. and considered 'Horse Country'

[Nebat]

Hello! Lexington sounds like it could work for you. It's a big horse place. I think the VA horse center is there. Not sure if that's the actual name or not. Lexington is a very small town with a historic downtown. Washington & Lee University is there as well as the Virginia Military Institute. It's a very rural but beautiful area, I wouldn't call it isolated as it is at the intersection of I-81 and I-64. Not sure what your definition of a decent sized city is but Roanoke would be a 45 min drive down 81. It has a metro of about 250,000. Hope this helps!

[Tarheel1323]

Thank you for your answers. I will be looking into each of all the areas mentioned. I appreciate the input.

[Tarheel1323]

As for working for Walgreens. She was originally going to work for Walgreens because a few of her friends have been and love it. One of the reasons she may stick with Rite Aid is because she already has over 3 years with the company as an intern and so with that time invested she will accrue more vacation time. Overall she is open to anything as long as the setting is what she wants. Thanks for the info.

[shellytc]

beleive it or not Va. Beach is a great place to keep a horse. Pungo has many horse farms, both for you to live on OR keep your horse boarded and live close by in a reasonably priced home. My son rode for 2 years (had to give it up for swimming year round) and we have some favorite boarding stalls. I would be happy to pass on the names of the boarding facilities. We loved the stables he rode at, the folks are real down to earth and the owner lives there with in and out rings, and over 10 paddocks. Also I live in a neighborhood where home prices are in the 300's and across the street is another great stable facility, so very close to get to. Our next door neighbor is a pharmicist.

Good Luck on your search!!

Shelly