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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
- Cambrian Acres - Looking for a well kept Cambrian neighborhood close to a great elementary school? The Cambrian Acres subdivision in San Jose’s Cambrian district is directly adjacent to Oster Elementary School and the broader Oster neighborhood in Cambrian. It’s an easy drive via Camden Avenue to either Highway 17 or Highway 85, so is a good commute […]
- Saratoga Parkside - Saratoga Parkside is a tidy community of 77 townhome style units adjacent to El Quito Park. These homes are held in condo ownership and the private road, Sara Park Circle, is directly off of Saratoga Avenue. Homes in the back, shown below, are a little smaller and have garages behind them. Closer to Saratoga Avenue, […]
- Homes in San Jose are taking a little longer to sell - Is this "seasonally normal" or is something else going on?
- Are sellers spying on buyers? - In recent years, we have seen a boom in smart home technology with an emphasis on safety, energy efficiency, and entertainment. Security cameras are now seemingly ubiquitous. With so much technology in our homes, it’s fair to ask if it’s being used when homes are on the market. Are sellers spying on buyers? Some are. […]
- Why does it matter if the bedroom windows are small or high? - Why does it matter if the bedroom windows are small or high?
- Visiting an open house? What to say, and what not to say, to the listing agent if you really want the property. - Tips for home buyers to make a better impression when attending an open house.
- 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.
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