Willow Valley Communities: Life Lived Forward

Gardening and Nature at Willow Valley Communities

Photos courtesy of Willow Valley Communities

Residents at Willow Valley Communities enjoy limitless ways to grow, learn, and engage. Countless opportunities are offered to residents for them to discover new passions or reignite those previously enjoyed years before. Senior life is one of the most fulfilling times of life, and at Willow Valley Communities, this time is characterized as “Life Lived Forward.”

Throughout the stunning 210-acre campus, Willow Valley Communities residents engage in recreational and mindful activities, including hundreds of clubs, world-class performances, activities, presentations, classes and lectures every day. Award-winning amenities, such as Willow Valley Communities’ 30,000-square-foot Clubhouse and 80,000-square-foot Cultural Center are the hubs of this vibrant, active and intergenerational lifestyle.

One of the most popular passions at Willow Valley Communities is gardening. The community’s residents are offered a variety of ways to participate. Three gardens are situated across the sprawling 210-acre campus for residents to use in a multitude of ways. To prepare the gardens for residents, Willow Valley Communities’ grounds team tills each garden in the spring and plows them in the fall.

After the gardens are prepared, residents are then free to work on their plots as they wish, growing delicious vegetables and glorious flowers. An ample supply of tools is always available at each garden for residents to dig in any time they want. Some residents have been gardening for decades and have even achieved the level of Master Gardener, while others have only started gardening after moving to Willow Valley Communities. Whether an experienced pro or a novice, gardening is a wonderful way for residents to be outside enjoying nature and each other, as well as learning new things.

In keeping with their “Life Lived Forward” philosophy, residents at Willow Valley Communities take their love of gardening to deeper levels. For example, two residents worked with the Pennsylvania State University to have one of their gardens Penn State Master Gardener Certified as an official Pennsylvania Pollinator-Friendly Garden. The stunning garden is well-known for attracting bees, butterflies, insects and birds, helping our ecosystem to thrive.

Residents are also able to pair their gardening skills with their desire to volunteer and give back to the Lancaster community. With the area’s rich, fertile soil as well as the extra special care and attention the plants receive, residents often have an abundance of vegetables and decide to donate them regularly. The Solanco Neighborhood Ministries’ food bank receives a variety of beans, lettuce, kale, peas, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, spinach and much more from residents’ gardens throughout the growing season. Additionally, every fall a harvest of hundreds of pounds of sweet potatoes and butternut squash gets delivered to the Lancaster County Food Hub, a community resource for free, nutritious food.

One Willow Valley Communities gardener, who maintains four plots from which all of the vegetables she grows are donated, says she never gardened before moving to Willow Valley Communities and simply enjoys giving. Another resident adds that she donates her surplus just because she “hates to see any waste.”

Gardening is just one of the almost limitless opportunities that Willow Valley Communities’ residents have to engage their talents and passions and discover new ones. Residents also see how their talents and gifts can grow into other areas to help others – much like the many gardeners of Willow Valley Communities.

Find out more! Willow Valley Communities invites you to contact them today to arrange for your no-obligation personalized visit and tour.

Overview

Type of Community

Premier 55-plus Lifeplan (CCRC) Type-A Lifecare contract senior living community

Range of Services

Willow Valley Communities offers award-winning amenities and programming, plus hundreds of clubs, performances, lectures and activities. Willow Valley Communities is an exclusively Type A Lifecare community, which means that if long- or short-term care is ever needed, there will be no increase to the resident’s monthly service fee because of the need for enhanced care.

Residential Options

Willow Valley Communities offers over 100 distinct floorplans to choose from, ranging from cozy studio apartments to spacious multi-level homes.

On-Campus Activities

For close to 40 years, their vision has been to provide innovative opportunities and spaces for a premier senior-living experience. Willow Valley Communities’ 80,000-square-foot Cultural Center is one campus hub with its indoor fitness and aquatics centers, pampering day spa, 500-seat performing arts theater, art gallery, art room and more.

Willow Valley Communities’ 30,000-square-foot Clubhouse is another venue well-known for providing intergenerational activities for residents and their families and friends. The pool and Har-Tru tennis courts provide hours of activity outside, while fun abounds inside with pinball and skee-ball at the vintage arcade, golf at worldwide courses at the golf simulator, bowling nights at the alleys, and more action at the fully equipped fitness and sports centers.

Twelve different culinary venues allow residents to recharge, ranging from casual coffee shops and wine bars to the full-service gourmet restaurant, Local Table, located in The Clubhouse.

Health/Fitness Facility/Activities

The term “well-being” is often thought of in the one-dimensional meaning of physical wellness. One does not have to look far to see examples of this at Willow Valley Communities: A visit to the Fitness and Aquatic centers or a conversation with one of the National Senior Games athletes is all it takes. However, the state of well-being encompasses much more than physical health and can include mental, emotional, social, environmental, spiritual, environmental and occupational health. At Willow Valley Communities, residents routinely pursue opportunities that enhance their well-being in all areas. Hundreds of clubs, classes, award-winning performances and other programs occur daily at the 30,000-square-foot Clubhouse and the 80,000-square-foot Cultural Center, as well as other locations across Willow Valley Communities’ 210-acre campus.

600 Willow Valley Square
Lancaster, PA 17602