Area info for Leesburg, 20175 (Fairfax: townhouses, neighborhood, buy)

[puckish]

My husband and I are house-shopping in Loudoun County. We currently live in Fairfax County, but we have five kids and a too-small house, and we can buy more house in Loudoun than in Fairfax. There is a house in Leesburg that we've seen twice and are planning to offer on, but I wanted to ask some questions about the area before we formalize our offer.

The house is off Catoctin Circle in ZIP code 20175. The elementary school is Catoctin. I have a child who will be going to elementary school in two years. I believe I recall the greatschools.com rating for Catoctin Elementary is 5. Here in Fairfax County, a school rated 5 is still a pretty decent school, though not outstanding. Are the Fairfax and Loudoun school systems comparable in that regard? Are we in for a world of bad-school worry if we let our kids attend a Loudoun school rated 5, or is it just basically an OK school, neither terrible nor wonderful?

Can anyone recommend family practitioners in that area? Obviously, we'd be switching doctors. We like to all go to the same practice, to eliminate the need for various age-related specialists like pediatricians.

There's a Safeway not far from this property. Is it a good grocery store, or would you recommend a different nearby grocery?

Like I said, we've visited the property itself twice, and taken a look at the neighborhood surrounding it. It looks pretty nice, and we're a little stunned that the house has been on the market for as long as it has (just over three months), as we can't see anything wrong with the property itself or the surrounding area. There are some ugly townhouses along Catoctin Circle on the way to this property, but the immediately adjacent neighborhood is well-kept and appears respectable.

Any info you can give about the area tucked in between Dry Mill Road, Catoctin Circle, and Ashton Drive, in ZIP code 20175 would be much appreciated!