Nature: “The True Luxury”

Posted on Apr 23, 2015 in Architecture, Blog, Houses

deerpathfarm_main_entranceForest & Bluff Magazine recently featured an article about Deerpath Farm: “The True Luxury,” by Jake Jarvi. Forest & Bluff provides “an exclusive read for the communities of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff” (part of the Chicago area’s north shore).

In a living room that looks out from a wall of glass across a half mile of meadow, Frederick Phillips and Linda Gardner Phillips are seeing their vision of the perfect community come to life.

Located in Mettawa, Deerpath Farm shares a zip code and a history with our neighbors in the City of Lake Forest. Our rural area was once known as the “Lake Forest Countryside” and many local families enjoyed nearby country estates and equestrian retreats. Deerpath Farm’s founding fathers, Edward H. Bennett, and E. H. Bennett, Jr., maintained their primary residences at the corner of Deerpath and Green Bay Roads, on land originally landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. They enjoyed the bucolic rural scenery of Deerpath Farm and allowed its working dairy fields and ancient oak woodlands to flourish, untouched by development.

….the homes that currently stand at Deerpath Farm have that easy weekend getaway feel, far removed from the hustle and bustle of suburban life, but with the benefit of actually existing right in the middle of it … a welcome reprieve from urban life

This “weekend getaway” legacy continues today – even though the houses here are used as primary homes! We get many comments from residents and visitors alike about how serene it feels to be here. As new houses continue to be built, the careful siting of each lot ensures that homeowners can benefit from great views and privacy. Plus, most of the land here remains natural. As you drive by the Preserve along Route 60, the view to the north looks almost exactly as it did a century ago, but the land itself is even healthier today than before. The native restoration and ongoing management have transformed former cow pastures into prairies and wetlands filled with native plants. The woodlands have been relieved of their buckthorn burden, and brim with native plants and wildlife just as they did hundreds and thousands of years ago.

The “true luxury” of Deerpath Farm is that it offers residents the opportunity to live amidst this increasingly rare environment. Recent studies prove that time spent in nature can reduce stress and bring health benefits. Many people travel for hours to vacation in nature in distant locations – at Deerpath Farm, you only have to travel outside your doorstep.

Read the original article at Forest & Bluff Magazine’s website.