Sweet and Low
Boomers go for small-town charm.
Downsizing is a great idea in theory, but when the move means cramming into a smaller unit in an attached building with no yard, perhaps surrounded by concrete, the transition can come as a lifestyle shock.
That hasn’t been the experience of empty-nesters moving to Winslowe’s View, a verdant village of small, cottage-style townhomes in the acclaimed planned community of The Pinehills. First off, some 70 percent of the neighborhood’s 214 acres are preserved as open space. Second, each low-lying building contains no more than two or three residences. As a result, the majority of homes are end units, and all enjoy multiple connections (including private ones) to nature.
“We want our homes to look like single-family homes, but, more importantly, we want them to live that way,” says Dan Green, president and principal of The Green Co., the builder of Winslowe’s View as well as the master developer of The Pinehills.
In some ways, the community offers something even better. “Since we control the whole site plan, the roads are not double-loaded,” Green adds. “So you aren’t looking out the window at your neighbor’s front yard or sitting on your patio with a view to the back of another house.”
The trick, he says, is thinking about land planning in reverse. “Most builders start with roads and then add homes. We start by walking the site multiple times in its natural condition, taking note of environmentally sensitive areas—be it a tall stand of trees, a vernal pool, an ocean view, or even a man-made golf course view—and then preserving that feature and siting homes around it. The last thing we do is figure out how to bring roads in.”
Although Winslowe’s View is not an age-restricted community, its homes cater to older buyers by design. The smallest houses in the neighborhood run a diminutive 1,100 to 1,550 square feet. None of the homes has more than two bedrooms on any floor, and most are master-down plans designed for single-story living.
“People who are thinking about downsizing out of a single-family house usually find they are living mostly on one floor and spending all their time in the kitchen, breakfast, and family room of their current house,” Green says. “Our homes are designed to work this way. And in almost all of the plans, the dining room and family room are open to each other, so at holiday time you can move the couches out of the way and accommodate 20 people for dinner.”
Traditional shingle cladding, gable-pitched roofs, and crisp trim give the cottages a quintessentially Cape Cod aesthetic that makes local buyers feel perfectly at home. The neighborhood even features an old-fashioned post office and a general store with penny candy in glass mason jars, a soda fountain, and a big cookie jar that operates on the honor system.
Location: Plymouth, Mass.
Builder/Developer: The Green Co., Plymouth
Architect: Dann Norris Batting Architect, Chester, N.H.
Web site: www.greencos.com/html/wvhome.htm