We are trying to sell our house and hope to move to Ocala. Our son lives in Orlando but after living so close to Atlanta for 17 years we crave the country again. Can anyone tell me about this area? Do you like it or hate it? I was down for the Ocala marathon & was impressed with the little bit I did see. Help!!!

My parents lived there for almost 20 years. I loved it. Great horse country. My neighbor's parents still live there. Its the "hills" of Florida ya know. LOL. Its close enough to many things, but far enough that you don't get so overwhelmed by tourists. Its grown a great deal since I went to UF, but its still a real nice area.

Talk to Ditter. She lives in Fort Meyers. She may be able to tell you more. My husband lived in Fort Meyers and he still talks about Ocalla.

I live in Ocala transplant from Ft Myers Cape Coral. I love it up here the people are so friendly. My DH just loved it here. It is sprawled out quite a bit but it's not congested you can go from one side to the other in at the most 45 minutes. The only street that is busy is SR200 and real bad during rush hour but people don't get their panties in a wad about traffic. There are some beautiful old homes in the historic district. The prices are no too bad on houses, depending on what you want. I live only a mile from Silver Springs attraction. Like every other place it has pros and cons but in all I love it here.

I live just outside of Tampa and WISH I lived in Ocala. It's gorgeous up there. BTW, there is an absolutely fabulous quilt shop in a small town called Trenton outside of Gainesville and well worth the drive. Went up there for a quilt show and was astounded at their selection and their store. Even has a little cafe next to it so you can catch a breather and go at it again all refreshed!

If you don't mind stifling heat and high humidity, Ocala is not a bad place. I live in a small town about half an hour south of Ocala and it is our "go to" big city. Safer than Tampa. You are also close to Gainesville which is also nice.

we try to go a coupla times a year to camp in the park there. it seems to be really great. friendly people and not too difficult to get around in.

Thanks for the info, Ladies! Now if I can only sell our house here. We've been on the market for 6 months & no offers yet. I think we're planting a St Joe today & see what he can do!

I think there's a quilt shop in Ocala too. Sister store to the one in Crystal River. We have friends who are also thinking of moving there. We have plans to be snow birds a little lower in the state than that.

There are two quilt shops in the area one in bellview and one in west Ocala.