Mount Airy was our home for many years. I think you'll find it a great area. This
post on Mount Airy will get you started.
There are more articles on the same site. There is more shopping than anyone needs in Winston-Salem which is only about 35 minutes away. Hanes Mall seems to be one of the biggest in the area. Things like Lowe's and Walmart are available in Mount Airy. The Walmart for some strange reason was one of the nicer ones that I have seen, but I haven't been in it in a couple of years.
We sold our family home on Pine St. to a couple from Florida who turned it into a
Bed & Breakfast.
Mount Airy's & Surry's economy is a little hard to figure, but tourism has helped greatly, and I find the downtown very vibrant.
You might enjoy these pictures of the downtown.
http://tinyurl.com/yujddw (broken link)
I did get into a debate with someone on my blog about the Surry County economy so you can find that at this link, "
NC snares Google equals Googlina."
The net is that I think the long term outlook is better than it was a few years ago. Much of the pain of the textiles and furniture world leaving is receding.
As far as I know there have been few if any tornadoes that I have heard of in my years. There are some pretty severe thunderstorms and you do get some flooding depending on where you end up living.
I don't think you will have to go very far to find some property to meet your needs, perhaps five or six miles but that is a guess.
Of course I'm assuming you're living in the Mt. Airy area, land is more plentiful near Dobson, but the services are fewer and you are farther from the "big shopping." There is a Belks in Mount Airy.
I can recommend a really good Realtor® who helped us sell our home place if you want to get in touch with me by email,
dsobotta@coastalnc.org
As to the trout fishing, when I was a teenager forty years ago, I used to catch trout in the Mitchell River maybe 30 minutes from town. I also used to go up to Meadows of Dan in Virginia to fish which is probably 45 minutes by the back way. I can't give you current info, but I would be surprised if you can't find good trout fishing with 45 minutes to an hour.