Testimonials

The following interview was conducted with local Winchester Country Club residents, Wade and Nancy Hampton during the summer of 2002. Permission has been granted by the Hamptons to reprint this interview.

WCC: You're from the Bay Area. Did you have any concerns about leaving there?

Wade: We just decided that things got a little crowded in the Bay Area and decided to look for a golf community, which is not easy to find. People have asked me that (about leaving the Bay Area) time and time again, but we just didn't have any problem leaving at all. We felt this was a good area to live in.

Nancy: You know, it's just not that far. You can always go back and visit, and it's better now because we'll go into San Francisco, spend a couple of nights and act like tourists (smiling).

Wade: There's certainly not the variety of restaurants that they have in the Bay Area, but frankly, we don't even miss that because we like sitting out on our patio every evening and grilling.

Nancy: I did miss the shopping, but that's changed since the Roseville Galleria was built.

WCC: We understand that you have a lot of visitors from the Bay Area?

Wade: Yes, we've become the Hampton's Bed & Breakfast since we built our guest house. It's used almost every weekend by family and friends.

Nancy: One of our friends asked 'Don't you feel reclusive up here?" and I laughed, because I see more friends up here now, then I did in the Bay Area. They all want to come up here and visit! Plus, we're so close to the golf course that we see people playing on the course and they often stop and visit. We're never alone…unless we want to be (laughing).

Wade: You can be as reclusive as you want, or as social as you want. There's always something going on at the Country Club.

Nancy: We decided when we moved, we were only going to move where there was a private country club. That way you have ‘instant friends'. That was our primary criteria, and if it had a new golf course, that would be even better!

WCC: Where did you look?

Wade: We wanted to stay in California and San Luis Obisbo was our first choice, but we didn't like the golf course. It didn't take too long for us to find our way here (Winchester Country Club), before they really started (building).

Nancy: And, we looked at Granite Bay and Serrano, but they were way too developed.

WCC: Did you consider Napa Valley?

Nancy: You know, it's crowded up there, the highway is packed, and quite frankly, we love the mountains.

WCC: Are you skiers?

Wade: Neither of us are skiers, but we have a place in Incline that's an hour and 20 minutes away, and we do enjoy going up there. Our children ski and we have a boat, so we go out on the lake (Lake Tahoe).

Wade: We know plenty of people who go up skiing in the morning and come back and play golf in the afternoon. We don't go up to Tahoe to ski, but we do go up to have lunch and come back. It's a beautiful drive. Absolutely gorgeous.

WCC: Are both of you golfers?

Wade: Yes, and Nancy is our Club Champion. (Note: Nancy was Ladies Division Champion two years in a row).

WCC: What did you like initially about this course?

Nancy: As I mentioned, we looked at a couple of others (courses) and they just weren't pretty. This is a very pretty course. Myself, I like to hit over something of interest. It's a new course and designed a lot differently than how the old ones were designed. There's always something of interest, so I never get tired playing this golf course.

Wade: It's actually kind of unusual, because Myers (CC Myers, owner / developer of Winchester Country Club) started building with the idea of developing the golf course first and working the homes in around the course. Usually, it's the reverse. They put the homes in first and then design the golf course around the homes.

Wade: It's a world class golf course. There are holes where you do not see fairways from your hole, which is always a sign of a good golf course. And, the way Robert Trent Jones set things up, you have five different tees to play from, so no matter what caliber of golfer you are, you can move all the way back to the Pro tees, like Kevin Sutherland, or move up to the greens. There's a wide variety of play out here and you'll never get bored. Never!

WCC: Anything else you particularly like up here?

Nancy: We like the weather. We like heat, but not too hot. It's not hot like Arizona. We looked in Arizona too, but we decided we could never live in the desert. It's just too hot and ugly. I have to have trees!

Nancy: During the summer we sit out on our patio every night. There is a lovely breeze that comes up every evening, so it's very pleasant. We just really enjoy sitting out on our patio, watching the people on the golf course and enjoying the wildlife. Wade: Our guests last weekend were flabbergasted with the wildlife up here - the birds, deer and wild turkey. And of course, we've got the bass down here jumping around (the ponds and lakes) all the time. We catch and release, but its great fly-fishing.

Nancy: The town of Meadow Vista is just adorable. We love it.

Wade: It has a great hardware store. How many stores do you go into where they know your name? And the pharmacist is the best I've ever come across. He is absolutely incredible.

Nancy: Rosemary Marti and I take our yoga classes and we also walk the equestrian trails.

Wade: Whenever I go into town, it takes about two stop lights and there's plenty of parking. And yet, a mile away, is I-80, which takes you anywhere you want to go.

Nancy: It's so easy to get on 80 and drive to Tahoe, Roseville, San Francisco or Sacramento. We're Kings Fans, so we try to go to all the games (at Arco Arena).

Nancy: There are nice things about (moving into) a new community. Everybody is new, looking to make new friends. We had a dinner party for 36 the other night and all were Winchester Country Club people. We also had a baby shower a few weeks ago for one of the younger members. We really like the different age groups of the members here. We wanted a mixed-age community. Someplace where there would be children.

WCC: So, it sounds like you're happy with your decision to move to Winchester Country Club?

Wade: It has been wonderful! We've had two couples from our club in the Bay Area move up here also and we'll probably see more. There just aren't that many good choices in Northern California or even Southern California, so I think we'll see more people coming from the Bay Area and perhaps other parts of the country.

Wade: We think we've found a little bit of heaven here.