[arkand]

Somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned Hot Springs Village as potential retirement/active community. The Village is a 26,000 acre gated community about 17 + - miles from Hot Springs. It's population is made up of people from elsewhere, mostly retirees. Many private lakes (we are on a 900+ acre private lake), Golf courses, Tennis facilities, Piclkeball courts, Hiking trails, POA fire dept, POA police dept. Hundreds of card clubs, Medical Facilities, Cemetery, Woodsworkers Club, Many Churches of all denominations,
beautiful scenery, Volunteer opportunities and a POA fee of $32.00 mo. are all here. We have no problem with the city Hot Springs itself as others have mentioned. Our home is about equidistant to Benton AR and we are about 40 miles from Little Rock and all the big city amenities. We are from Houston and have been here for 13 years. To us, we are in paradise.

[prowler]

Thanks for your response and your thoughts about Hot Springs Village. That sounds like a great alternative for many retired people. However, a gated retirement/active community filled with closely built homes isn't everybody's cup of tea. Our preference is for a bit of solitude and lots of trees.

[arkand]

I fully understand. However, if you do plan on visiting Hot Springs, I do hope that you will pass-by the Village. You might be surprised to find that it is not a Sun City type of community. Also, if you should desire to be closer to Little Rock, you may want to take a drive on Kanis Road from the town of Paron on AR 9 through the town of Ferndale and on to west Little Rock. There are several areas along this route that have 5+ acre heavily wooded tracts available. You are only 10 to 12 miles from the city limits. Sam's, Home Depot Target etc. are all right there in west Little Rock. This is our back road scenic drive to Little Rock.

[prowler]

Checking out the area you described sounds like a good idea. As you indicated, imagining how something looks is often FAR from how it actually looks - up close and personal. We need to check out as much as possible during our visit. We're trying to keep our options open.

Here we sit in a 10 year old house we built ourselves, constructed and furnished just the way we like ....... and don't suppose we'll every find another place quite as nice, given the amount of dollars it would take to buy something comparable. We're hoping for the best if/when we relocate, finding someplace with features other than the actual house (building) to compensate. That would include things like warmer winters, lower cost of living, a bit more privacy, and lots of woodsy critters. All of us seem to have personal preferences that some others don't understand but we "are" what we "are".

If anything else comes to mind, please feel free to fire away with a message.

[flbratgirl]

I currently live in the Florida panhandle but after the hurricanes plus the fact that my children and grandchilden are in Arkansas we went looking for a new place to call home we have visited Mena several times and each time I come away with the feeling that this is home and yes we brought one last year it's a fixer upper but my soon to be retired husband is a contractor... I am a RN and there is a 65 bed hospital, home health several nursing homes and home health care services so I anticipate finding work when I move up this summer
it's a slower pace of life with a lot of beautiful scenery and the mountains are so close there is appx 60 mi atv trails nearby and the cossatot river for white water rafting there is a sm college and blue grass concerts ...in appx 15-20min you can be in oklahoma and even better in 1 hr I can be at my granddaughters house hope to see you there