DATE: Sunday, May 18, 1997                  TAG: 9705160280

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARGO M. MATEAS, CORRESPONDENT 
                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

FOR LUCKY FEW, SUFFOLK OFFERS CHANCE AT GENTLEMAN FARMING

What were you doing this Sunday afternoon? Weeding the front yard? Mowing the lawn? Planting a garden? Staining the deck, painting the garage?

For more and more families scattered throughout Hampton Roads, the ``American Dream'' of buying a house on a piece of land and declaring it your own private Virginia is quickly becoming a fading vision.

Bill and Andrea Garrett are one family of scores who have fled the suburban sprawl of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake for the country life of Suffolk.

A year ago they sold their Chesapeake home and bought 21 acres of land on White Marsh Road, moved in a mobile home, and set up housekeeping.

For Bill, a computer programmer, the move was about keeping his sanity amid a steady stream of chaos that typified life in the city.

``I got to the point where I didn't want to battle traffic anymore. The noise, the crowds, the inflated land values - they just weren't worth it. I wanted a quieter life, one that I felt more in control of.''

Today the gentleman farmer is busy tilling his fertile spread with the help of neighbor Bill Pendleton, who lends his tractor to the effort. Unfortunately, wife Andrea still has to battle the expressways for two hours a day. The drive to her job as a project manager for Coastal Video Communications in Virginia Beach is taxing.

``We were fortunate to purchase our land when property was still relatively reasonable,'' Andrea notes. ``Throughout the last year, land prices have certainly escalated, particularly for parcels like ours in Southern Suffolk.''

``I get between five and six calls a week from people looking for an older farmhouse on a few acres of land,'' Chorey & Associates Realtor Doug Johnson said. ``More and more people are looking to get out of the cities and relocate to the country. But it's becoming harder and harder to find, even here in Suffolk. Folks are having to go farther and farther out, into Isle of Wight, Carrollton and even North Carolina to find land.''

Rick and Sandy Burlage, also employed in the computer industry, are realizing their dream of buying an older home in the country. These city refugees purchased an old Victorian home on Holland Road and are converting it to a bed and breakfast they hope to open in 1999. ``Victoria Rose'' will cater to locals looking to be pampered for the weekend and to travelers commuting to North Carolina and beyond.

They also sold their beach house and bought the three-story home and surrounding outbuildings, including two adjacent cottages that they rent out.

For them, it's a balancing act between the rigors of work life and the equally demanding but less stressful pressures of renovating the 100-year old home.

``I wouldn't trade it for the world,'' Sandy smiles, her face dotted with a dab of cheerful yellow paint meant for the outside trim. ``This is my relaxation and my future. When I retire, I will be here, greeting guests, cooking dinners and looking out at the pine trees. It sure beats the heck out of a sales meeting anyday.''

Land closer to central Suffolk is higher priced and an almost-impossible commodity to find. A few years ago, land was plentiful in Suffolk - and cheap. Today, an acre of unimproved land commands a price tag of anywhere from $12,000 to $23,000.

Sellers, who would have settled for land prices from $5,000 to $8,000 an acre just a year ago are now holding out for what they know is an escalating demand. Multi-acre parcels, once a burden to landowners, who often capitulated to pressURE[sic] to subdivide for lower-priced lots, are selling briskly.

``It's definitely a land seller's market,'' according to Dale Scott of Scott & Associates in Franklin. ``Land is hard to find, and it's steadily rising in value.''

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