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About the Valley of Heart’s Delight
“The Valley of Heart’s Delight” was the way in which Santa Clara County, home to San Jose and now Silicon Valley, was once described. For those of us who grew up climbing trees in the orchards, and who grow a few fruit trees in their own yards, it still is the Valley of Heart’s Delight. This valley was once famous for wheat, later for grapevines, citrus, nuts, cherry trees, and fruits of all kinds. Hints of the valley’s past are everywhere to be found.
On this website, we will focus on Los Gatos and nearby areas such as Saratoga, Campbell, Monte Sereno, Cupertino, the San Jose areas of Almaden, Cambrian, and Willow Glen, and adjacent communities throughout Santa Clara County.
Please also visit The Valley of Hearts Delight Blog for the latest market reports, area information, photos, tips, bits of history and more for Silicon Valley, San Jose, Los Gatos, Cambrian Park, Almaden Valley, Monte Sereno and Saratoga real estate and homes for sale!
Where is Silicon Valley?
It’s not a highly defined area and is not really a “valley” per se. It mostly resides in Santa Clara County, which is found at the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, and inland from Santa Cruz and the Pacific Ocean in California – separated by the Santa Cruz Mountains (referred to locally as “the hill”). Other areas include the San Francisco Peninsula (the bay side of San Mateo County), the east bay communities of Fremont, Hayward, and Union City, and also the Santa Cruz County city of Scotts Valley.
The coastal range keeps the fog mostly at bay, but our Silicon Valley climate is still primarily dominated by the Pacific. In addition to the Santa Clara Valley or County area, Silicon Valley creeps over the hill into Scotts Valley, up the San Francisco Peninsula to include Menlo Park, a bit up the East Bay into Fremont and Hayward, and generally pretty much anywhere within 45 minutes of San Jose.
The biggest city in Silicon Valley is San Jose. It is a sprawling city inching from the east foothills to the Santa Cruz Mountains and it includes many distinct districts, and it includes about 1 million residents. San Jose is the 10th largest city in the U.S.
On the north and east there are Berryessa, North Valley, Alum Rock, Silver Creek and Evergreen.
In the downtown area or “central San Jose” we find many more neighborhoods, including the historic and vibrant Japantown, the residential old Vendome neighborhood, Naglee Park, the Rosegarden and Willow Glen areas, to name just a few!
Along the south and west sides of San Jose, we find South San Jose, Blossom Valley (also sometimes called Blossom Hill), the Santa Teresa district (running along the Santa Teresa foothills, Cambrian Park (sometimes also called Cambrian Village), Almaden Valley, and West San Jose.
Additionally, the valley has smaller cities and towns too: Los Gatos, Monte Sereno (the smallest city in the county), Saratoga, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountian View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell, Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Each one has its own history and personality. Almaden, for instance, was once the largest Mercury or Quicksilver mine in the world. Hence the San Jose paper is “Mercury News“.
While there’s plenty of information online about larger areas (districts of San Jose, or the cities and towns of Silicon Valley), these neighborhoods within the districts are not written about as much on the web. So please contact me by phone or email if you are looking for specific information on these areas.
This Silicon Valley Real Estate Website is provided to you by me, Mary Pope-Handy, a veteran Realtor, with Sereno Group in Los Gatos. No website, though, can give you precise advice or an expert opinion (not even this one!), so there are plenty of ways to contact me. I dislike pushy sales people as much as you do and always put my client’s best interests first.
The Valley of Heart’s Delight Blog – latest posts
- Home buying: a hedge against inflation - For Silicon Valley renters, it seems like no end is in sight to rising housing prices. As long as Apple, Google, and other big players continue to recruit large numbers of well paid employees, there will be fierce competition for apartments, condos, and other rental properties, and that will put upward pressure on rental costs. […]
- The Almaden Winery Neighborhood of San Jose - The Almaden Winery Neighborhood of San Jose - understanding its history, the three subdivisions in the area and finding homes for sale there now.
- Saratoga, CA, Real Estate Market Update - This is a fairly comprehensive article on the Saratoga real estate market that will include the live statistics from Altos Research for listed properties (not closed) in Saratoga CA 95070, the closed sale data from the RE Report for last month in Saratoga 95070, and the numbers I crunched for Saratoga - overall and by price point and high school district, since Saratoga has 3 different high school districts, each with an impact on home values.
- Saratoga Blossom Festival! - In April, travel back in time to the early- to mid-20th century and celebrate Santa Clara Valley’s heritage with the Saratoga Historical Foundation and the City of Saratoga’s Blossom Festival. When the hills of Los Gatos, Saratoga, and the surrounding regions were covered with fruit blossoms every year, a Blossom Festival was held with parades, food, […]
- Milpitas real estate market - The Milpitas real estate market is red hot, one of the hottest in Santa Clara County. The city offers strong schools, a fairly “close in” location, and a lot of home for the money, so it is always popular. Milpitas Real Estate Market Trends at a Glance You can always view the most current info […]
- The Evergreen area of San Jose - The Evergreen area is in the southeast foothills of San Jose and extends north toward Eastridge Mall. It includes a few zip codes - 95148, 95121, 95135, and a portion of 95138 (part is also "Santa Teresa" or "South San Jose"). There's a lot of diversity in this region - the areas in the flatlands near the Mall, Reid-Hillview Airport, and waterpark are more modest and affordable as compared to the areas further south where you're more likely to see luxury properties (Hillstone, Bel-Aire Estates, The Meadowlands, The Ranch on Silver Creek, Silver Creek Valley Country Club and nearby). Pricier areas feature larger lots and houses and valley or hillside views set near the golf courses (Silver Creek Valley Country Club, The Ranch Golf Club, and the Villages Golf & Country Club). In general, Evergreen is scenic and includes many newer homes and communities. Many people enjoy the relative newness of construction and whole neighborhoods which are young, compared to the rest of Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley as a whole.
- Mountain View CA real estate market trends and statistics - How's the Mountain View real estate market? This is one of the very hottest areas within Silicon Valley and is home to a myriad of high tech companies and in a stone's throw of others. With a charming and walkable downtown, easy access to CalTrain and a vibrant atmosphere conducive to both work and play, it is no wonder that people relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area or Silicon Valley place Mountain View squarely in their target.
Mary Pope-Handy
Realtor, CRS, CIPS, ABR, SRES
CA DRE # 01153805
Sereno Group
Los Gatos Office
214 Los Gatos Saratoga Rd
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408 335-1400 office
408 204-7673 cell