Ours at last

Ours at last. 10 acres of land in wine country. Specifically in Templeton, which is just South of Paso Robles on the Central California Coast. The property is on Venice Rd, hence the inspiration for the name of this site.

We closed escrow on 7-2-18, after a 6 month search in the surrounding area, trying to find a suitable place to call our new home. Looking back on it, we saw an amazing variety of properties. Big lots, small lots, hillside lots, flat lots, vineyards, expensive, less expensive, lots with homes on them, some had nothing, the list goes on.

Our agent in this process was Wayne Lewis. He came recommended by some friends who live in the area. Wayne is simply an awesome guy, and a very good agent to have on your side. We nicknamed him the “Mountain Goat”, because he just loves scrambling around in the country checking out the details of particular properties. And he always has a story or a comment about the things he sees. I learned so much from him.

The current address of the property is 0 Venice Rd. It won’t get a proper number until such a time as a building permit is issued by the County of San Luis Obispo. We originally toured the lot with Wayne pretty early in our search, fell in love with it, and then for some reason put it aside and kept searching. Looking back on it now, I have no idea why we did that. Possibly our goals were changing during the search process, as what we could (and could not) do on various parcels became more clear. What we could afford was also a criterion. But every time we were in the Paso area, we would drive up Venice Road and park in front of the lot for a while, just listening to the silence. Or enjoying the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. It was magic.

The Venice property was a Walnut grove at one time, and still has Walnut trees on it. Some have died due to neglect. But many others are still alive and just need some TLC. We have no intention of going into the Walnut business, but the trees are beautiful, so we will try to save those that we can. They grow pretty well without irrigation, its just the fruit production that is diminished. They mostly need some trimming.

There is a “hollow” halfway up the sloping property, which is the logical building site for a home. From that location there is a view of a “Gentleman’s Vineyard” across the way. And in the distance you can see more serious vineyards owned by one of the larger wine producers in the area.