The Start of Wrenwood Ranch
The idea of Wrenwood Ranch started when Keisha and I got married in 2011. A remote wedding venue tucked away amongst the towering Sequoia's outside of Yosemite National Park. We loved the idea of housing 60 of our closest family and friends on-site with us for our wedding. We asked ourselves what would it look like if we were to create a similar idea somewhere else? Though the original idea has morphed over the years and we still are excited for the plans ahead.
We made the jump to start acting on our dreams in 2019. We returned from vacation and made the decision to move back to Texas. Before we were married, we both had previously lived in Texas and knew at some point we would be returning. We were familiar with the state and had friends and family scattered throughout.
Keisha lived in the Lubbock area and I was born in Waco. We looked at returning to Waco when I was in my early 20's, however the timing wasn't right. We set the trip for November 2019 with plans to look at land in a few different areas. After driving all over Texas, the Texas Hill Country stood out. We both heard a little voice saying, "this is it". We have learned to trust that little voice over the years.
We listed our home for sale in January 2020. Little did we know that the world would come to a grinding halt in a matter of weeks. We received an offer on our home within two days and started packing. We moved out and had set a second return trip
to the Texas Hill Country shortly after closing. We had a family friend that lived in the Hill Country that had encouraged us to visit. When we returned for the second trip, they toured us further around the area. We loved the area.
We met with a realtor and had pre-selected about 25 properties to visit. Due to land restrictions, water limitations or otherwise, that trip quickly dropped down to four properties. We looked at all four properties as an opportunity. The first two we looked at were within our budget, but the little voice was telling us "no". We looked at two more that were located in a much better location. One slightly tucked away with endless potential and a second located along US-290 (The Texas Wine Trail).
They were both fantastic properties in our eyes. The first property with endless potential was cleared and had large mature oak trees. The land was "unrestricted" and we could build on the property. Additionally, it was surrounded by a large solar farm on one side and neighbors on two other sides in the distance. We ultimately decided against this piece of property because of the land easement into it. We did not think the neighbors would be happy with us if we had large volumes of traffic entering into the property.
The second piece of property.....well..... it was covered in dense cedar and oak trees and was difficult to navigate. We could walk easements and certain areas, but never walked the entire property. We knew that we would have
a ton of clearing to do. The one thing that stood out to us was the large oak trees that were nestled amongst the over grown cedar trees. We chose this property in March of 2020, at the peak of Covid.
The exciting journey began and we had many twists and turns ahead. We purchased the property with no power, septic or water. Although we are leaving many of the details out, we quickly learned to appreciate the small things.
The name "Wrenwood Ranch" originated from a walk Keisha and I went on one night. We had a street full of amazing neighbors and thought it would be great to name our property after the street that we had so much fun on. We asked ourselves the question, "What would our property look like if we created several small cottage that were all named after our friends and family"? The idea was born.... Wrenwood Avenue became Wrenwood Ranch and each cottage is named after someone who has had an enormous impact on our lives.