Willowsford

Active living, an immersion in nature, and connections with family and neighbors are defining elements of Willowsford, carried out in the community’s brand identity and amenity package. Willowsford draws on Virginia’s scenic landscape and agricultural heritage to create an experience-based community supporting strong food and farm connections and an outdoor active lifestyle. The rustic yet luxurious lifestyle appeals to active families who want a taste of the rural life – outdoor recreation, healthy living, connections with your neighbors – near an urban center.

With more than 2,000 acres of land set aside for recreation, food cultivation, and wildlife habitat, Willowsford has created a lifestyle experience and setting that few other communities offer. LandDesign intentionally designed the environment and amenity centers at Willowsford to reinforce a rural, naturalistic aesthetic, legible through the simplistic elegance of the landscape vernacular. A 300-acre working farm is the centerpiece of community activity, positioning agriculture as an integral part of the Willowsford identity, while a consistent landscape treatment and emphasis on place-appropriate design details ensures the entire community feels like a “piece of the farm.”

In addition to vast open spaces, Willowsford features a variety of healthy-living amenities, including two clubhouses with resort-style pools. Willowsford boasts many additional activities that encourage a renewed appreciation of the environment and promote outdoor health and recreation, including children’s play areas, community gardens, a dog park, campsites and picnic areas, sledding hills, athletic fields, a kids’ BMX bike track, and a disc golf course. In conjunction with land planning and landscape architecture services, LandDesign prepared residential design guidelines and an environmental signage package, ensuring a consistent visual identity throughout the entire community.

To draw young families, as well as active retirees, from urban centers to rural Loudoun County, Willowsford needed to straddle the line between urban and rural, marrying idyllic settings in nature with resort-style amenities. Willowsford aimed to create a new standard of living that prioritizes experiences and community over material goods. Natural land planning, place-appropriate design details, and outdoorsy amenities were intentionally applied by the design team to reinforce the community’s identity, crafting an authentic experience through meaningful connections to the land.

To instill buyer confidence, all of the amenities were built up-front, allowing the community and programming to draw-in potential homebuyers. The developer’s risk and upfront investment has paid off, attracting families seeing value in this lifestyle-oriented community.