Easton, MD, is 1.5 hours away and, according to Weichert's site, has several beautiful options in your price range.

Easton is much more than the Route 50 strip. I went to a film festival there last year, and the downtown area is quaint and beautiful with lots of dining options.

Shenandoah County in the valley on the Shenandoah River. We live there full time now and we love it.

It look me almost over an hour to get to Leesburg yesterday with no traffic. If you plan to go for weekends, 1.5 hrs is not going to get you very far.

I am jealous of your situation.....

double the money and you can get into gibson island.

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking 1.5 hours on Friday afternoon? If so maybe Springfield?

Ha ha ha.

OP are you interested in hiking? Antiques? Motor boating? Art? Historical locations (battlefields or other?)? Or when you say you're not into "scenes" do you mean that you won't be leaving the house much? You might get more responses with a little more info.

Talbot county. To save money, you can buy a house without deep water (this adds a ton to the value), since you aren't boat people. Your kids can take sailing lessons at the Yacht club.

PP again. Also, I SAH with 2 young children and you couldn't pay me to spend the summer alone with the kids and only seeing DH on weekends. That is not a vacation, that is a relocation.

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking 1.5 hours on Friday afternoon? If so maybe Springfield?

LOL. So true. What about Colonial Beach or Annapolis? A partner at DH's old firm has a gorgeous house there on the water as his primary residence...

Are you talking 1.5 hours on Friday afternoon? If so maybe Springfield?

I haven't been, but know several people that have houses around Lake Anna.

Rappahanock (sp.) County is gorgeous. It's where Inn of Little Washington is and probably about 2 hours away. I think it is more country and less "horsey" than Middleburg and certainly a little less developed.

You sound like boring people who don't like anything. Just stay in DC and shut up

I don't know that those parameters get you a fun, relaxing summer location.

Have you thought about instead spending $500K on a property to use as rental income (so, a very nice 1br condo downtown), then banking the rest to use for fancy vacations or more frequent B&B stays or even summertime month-long house rentals?

My husband and I are looking to purchase a "second home", we place to really relax on the weekends and get away from the annoyances of DC. I say "second home" because we currently live in CCDC in a house we inherited with no mortgage or underlying issues, because of that we have 600-700k to spend and have to be within 1.5 hours of DC which means no real "beach" locations. We were thinking that a spacious home with a pool in either Middleburg or on the Eastern Shore might fit the bill. The caveat is we are neither horse people nor boat people nor are we very "sceney" and social... we really just want a place with a pretty view and some space. We are just starting to think about this process, does anyone want to weigh in one way or the other? We have 2 kids that are young. I will be able to spend the summer with them at the house, I imagine I will try to do either riding lessons if we choose Middleburg or sailing lessons if we choose the Bay. We are also open to other suggestions if they are out there - must be within 1.5 hrs of DC due to DH work schedule.