The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Grand houses, great views and a Jack Nicklaus golf course in Loudoun County, Va.

By
March 12, 2019 at 6:30 a.m. EDT
Sixty-four sites are for sale at Creighton Farms in Aldie, Va., including five with move-in-ready houses. Lot prices range from $456,000 to $1,773,000. (The cost of the house is additional.) Move-in-ready houses range from $1,750,000 to $2,875,000. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

If what you’re after is luxury-resort living in a scenic rural setting, with neighbors barely in sight and a golf course out the back door, then Creighton Farms in Aldie, Va., could be an option.

The 900-acre gated community in southern Loudoun County is surrounded by rolling hills, grassy fields, lodgepole pine stands and views of the Bull Run Mountains.

“Roads are private and narrow, with twists and turns to deliberately slow people down and convey a country feel,” said Rowland Bates, executive vice president of acquisitions and development with Southworth Development, the developer.

No two Creighton Farms mansions look alike. “They’re custom-designed and built by hand, piece by piece, one at a time,” Bates said. Novella Homes, Langhorne Custom Homes, Gruver Cooley and the Galileo Group are the recommended builders.

Looking for less ‘hustle and bustle,’ they found Landsdale, a new development in Frederick County, Md.

Southworth Development, which owns properties around the world, bought Creighton Farms in 2009. Home buyers become members, as well as residents, enabling them to play golf without a fee and participate in activities at all Southworth properties.

“We have people stopping here on their way down from Boston to Florida. Maybe they’ll play a round or two, eat in our restaurant and sleep upstairs in one of the [nine] club rooms residents can rent for their guests,” said Robin Kohlhaas, the general manager of the club.

Living large: Lot sizes range from one to seven acres. Sales staff drive prospective buyers around to select a location. You buy the lot, choose a builder, and then work with the builder’s design team to customize your home.

Lot prices range from $456,000 to $1,773,000. The cost of building a house is in addition to the cost of the lot.

Dan Askin and his wife indulged in significant customization. “I worked on every design detail with the builder,” he said.

His house has views of “the Northern Virginia landscape that I love from every window,” Askin said. “We have a two-story family room with a cultured-stone fireplace and a large travertine kitchen. My wife always wanted a huge porch, so we built one,” he said.

The stairs up to the second floor are curved and heavily ornamented. “The carpenters loved working on this because they got to be creative,” he said.

Compounding home buyer interest in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood

Marisa and Mike Zaneis and their two girls moved to Creighton Farms from a townhouse in Vienna, Va. “We could have stayed there forever,” said Marisa Zaneis, a real estate agent with Compass, “but my husband has long dreamed of living in a golf community. Our stars aligned when we found this community.”

The 6,465-square-foot Montvale, a model house in the community, has five bedrooms and six bathrooms. Three stone steps lead to a covered front porch and the foyer. The foyer is flanked by a dining room on one side and a library on the other side.

From the foyer, you can look through the house to the golf course. Beyond the foyer is a gallery hallway. At the end of the hallway, the owner’s suite is to the right, in its own wing.

Straight ahead is the great room and the outside terrace. To the left are the breakfast area and the kitchen (with three sinks, two dishwashers and two refrigerators), the butler’s pantry and the laundry room.

Three bedrooms and another laundry room are upstairs.

Golf center planned: The 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course is the centerpiece of the community. “This is a pure course. It’s in the middle of our grounds, and houses are built around it so they don’t encroach on the course,” Bates said.

“Celebrities and professional athletes who play for local teams have lived here and some still do,” he said.

“We prefer not to advertise their names. We’re not pretending to be Fort Knox, but the privacy we offer is important,” said Scott Timmermans, senior real estate sales manager.

The Zaneis children, Ava, 11 and Jillian, 9, are in the junior golf program, which is coached by Erika Larkin, a PGA professional instructor. “They have a weekly practice,” Marisa Zaneis said.

On the drawing board are plans for a state-of-the-art indoor golf performance center, with $175,000 of embedded technology for customized coaching and instruction. Construction is scheduled to begin soon.

Amenities: The clubhouse’s amenities include three dining rooms with varied decor and mood, a library, a golf shop and locker rooms. The fitness center is in a building adjacent to the clubhouse.

There are two pools, plus a children’s splash area, and two tennis courts.

A full-time concierge is on staff.

Nearby: Many wineries, breweries, equestrian farms are in the vicinity. There are historic sites in Leesburg, Middleburg and Waterford, all in Loudoun County. Morven Park, a museum and equestrian center, is near Leesburg, and Shannondale Springs Wildlife Management Area is about 45 minutes away in West Virginia.

Schools: Aldie Elementary, Mercer Middle and John Champe High.

Transit: Residents drive golf carts in the community. The area’s main roads include U.S. Route 15, U.S. Route 50 and Virginia Route 606 (Loudoun County Parkway, Old Ox Road). Middleburg is five miles away; Leesburg, 13 miles away; and Dulles International Airport, 18 miles away.

40192 Jefferson Springs Court, Aldie, Va.

There are 184 single-family house sites. Sixty-four sites are for sale, including five with move-in-ready houses. Lot prices range from $456,000 to $1,773,000. (The cost of the house is additional.) Move-in-ready houses range from $1,750,000 to $2,875,000.

Builder: Southworth Development

Features: Because each house is custom-built, there are variations. But, in general, houses have two-stories, a basement and a two-or-three-car garage. Luxury features include 10-foot-high ceilings on the main level and nine-foot-high ceiling on the upper level; eight-foot-high interior doors on the main level; custom trim throughout the house; and shiplap siding on some walls. Kitchens have Wolf, Sub-Zero and Bosch appliances and a cast-iron farmhouse sink.

Bedrooms/bathrooms: 4 to 7 / 5 to 8

Square-footage: 3,000 to more than 20,000

Homeowners association fee: $545 to $680 a month

View model: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Contact: Scott Timmermans at 703-957-4812 or https://creightonfarms.com.