Hey, as of July 15^th we’ve begun to get ourselves in gear to sell some land. And not just any land, mind you! If you’ve ever dreamed of being our neighbor (haha) then here is your chance. It is +/– 32 of the most diverse acres in the county. Approximately 8 acres are open and in pasture, with the remainder being wooded ridgeland. The ridgeland rises to 1,420’ and is one of the highest vantage points in the immediate area, promising some pretty spectacular northern, eastern and southern views. Asking price is as of yet to be determined but if someone were to offer $10K/acre before September 1^st we might be tempted. I still need to do some more research on comparables. Furthermore, we are also planning on subdividing the 32 acres into at least two separate lots. One lot would consist of at least the 8 acres of open land, and the second lot would enjoy the 1,420’ hill summit and be at least +/– 15 acres. In this case the price would be closer to $12K/acre. We’ll see.

Anyway, here are some photos to get the ball rolling.

Survey approximation. Black and red line is existing logging road. Black dots are proposes home sites. Shaded area is our farm. You can see our house and our barns, etc. We own all of Steeplechase Lane, which heads eastward to Dans Road (public road). The only other house with access via Steeplechase is visible in the top right section of the aerial. So ultimately, at most, there would be only four homes on our private 2,000+ foot drive.

Looking West. The proposes property line is at the white gate. Land to be sold would be this side of the gate, extending to the left (Southward) to a hollow on the far side of the creek. So this is roughly where a driveway might enter onto the land for sale. Steeplechase Lane ends at our barns visible about 1,800’ away.

(E) is the creek. (C) is the proposed lot line – the land for sale would be on the near side of the line from this vantage point. (A) is our outdoor riding ring – not for sale but neighbors could access it for a small fee. The same goes for our (D) 20×40m indoor riding arena. (B) is the summit of Cahas mountain.

View on the land looking East. (A) is a run-in that would be relocated to our land – or we could negotiate a price for it to the seller. (B) is an existing partition fence that could be removed when the buyer redesigns their pasture(s). (C) is the entrance to the ridgeland via existing roadbed. (D) is the creek, it runs E/W at the bottom of the pastures.

View on land looking Southwest. (B) is roadbed to ridgeland. (A) are mature ash trees in pasture. Ignore the bedraggled fence. This would be replaced by the buyer when they redesign their pastures.

Aforementioned creek. Except during severe drought this little creek runs year round. We currently keep grazing animals out of the creek. It’s better for the environment. We may add a restriction to the deed that would force the buyer to do the same. We’ll see.

Logging road along south side of creek. Currently you can ride along this road all the way to our outdoor. It’s a beautiful spot!

Road up ridgeland.

Highest point on ridgeland. We’re currently preparing to selectively timber the ridgeland and during this project, we’ll be opening up some views along the ridge. They are sure to be amazing. Cahas Mountain will be in full view from this vantage point.

That’s all for now. More details later!

If you’ve ever visited our place it goes without saying that there is an above-average level of upkeep required to keep things in order. We’re into our fourth year on our horse farm and – with respect to landscaping chores – I’m almost to the point where I think I might actually know what I’m doing. Before we moved here the only piece of landscape equipment I owned was a push mower. I barely even knew how to use that. Today, I think I’m actually getting the hang of landscape maintenance and improvement.

We’ve got three purple plumb trees that are struggling to survive. You might be able to make them out behind the parked van. Originally there were purple plumbs snaking all the way to the foreground of this photo. In all likelihood they died of old age and/or neglect long before we bought the place. Nancy and I are not sure what trees we will plant to replace them. At this point our short list includes apple trees (I’m becoming interested in the edible landscape movement), purple plumbs, or crepe myrtles. We love the idea of apples and plumbs but we’re pretty heavy already on spring flowers. Crepe Myrtles are attractive and would provide more summer flowers but would otherwise be useless. We’ll see.

Cahas Mountain is crisp and clear on this sunny summer day. Those who enlarge the above photo might catch a glimpse of the second house being built in Boones Mill’s Cahas Green subdivision. The third has also gotten started, as evidenced by the trail of smoke from the smoldering debris pile. I believe those two homes are built on five acre lots. I understand a few more are on the drawing boards by homeowners who also happen to have horses. It’s good to have more horse folks moving into the area.

Today I mowed the four fields pictured above. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and as always my earmuffs were dialed into either NPR news or my favorite country music station, so the time passed quickly. Tomorrow I’ll be mowing the two large pastures to the left (East) of these fields. Mowing is a good break from fence building; I’m building about 725’ of rail fence around the outdoor riding ring (visible in the photo, to the right of center). After digging 90 holes and setting about 30 posts I was ready for a short break. Most of the postholes were drilled into some pretty tough clay hardpan and I ate up two full sets of teeth on my 9” bit digging those damn holes! I’ll be back to building fence by Thursday and I hope to finish the fence by the end this month.

As part of our plan to reduce our acreage to +/– 100 acres, we’ll be offering about 32 acres for sale shortly. The acreage is partly visible in this photo; it consists of most of the ridgeland visible, and flows to the left (East), accessible by a well established logging road that continues East until it bends North and downward, over a small creek and into +/– 8 acres of sloped open field that rises up to our private road. The buyer could build in the open field for a more semi-rural feel that provides very pleasant small valley views; alternatively the buyer could build on the ridge that rises to 1,400’, approximately 80’ higher than the location of our own home, providing what will likely be a wonderful northern view of Cahas Mountain and also quite possibly a southern view of the Piedmont highlands. The property would have easement access from our private gravel road. If you know anyone who may be in the market for a diverse piece of land in Franklin County with some great views, and open land for horses, that adjoins a very nice horse farm providing affordable access to our indoor arena, outdoor ring and trails then have them send me an email to sean@digitalspinner.com. We’re 25 minutes door to door from Carilion and downtown Roanoke. Pass it along! I’ll have more details and photos later.