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Longtime residents know the natural gifts tucked into the hilly Woodside Glens neighborhood, where fields of wildflowers sometimes bloom in nearby swales in springtime.

The Glens isn't a collection of $10 million estates on 10-plus-acre lots. The houses are close together, though the rugged terrain keeps them private. Thanks to the proximity, people can come out onto the winding, narrow roads to chat with a neighbor.

The neighborhood provides all the advantages of living near the Woodside town center with the bonus of a tight-knit community.

Finding a newcomer to the Woodside Glens neighborhood is no easy task.

Most people, it seems, have lived here half their lives or more.

"Once you move to the Glens, I think you stay for a really long time," says Sandra Pugh, who has lived here since 1977.

On Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- Bicycle Sundays -- residents can opt to get some exercise by joining hundreds of bicyclists who ride up nearby Canada Road when the road is closed to traffic between between the Filoli entrance and Highway 92, a pleasant ride north of the Glens.

Centered around Glenwood Avenue off Canada Road, the Glens seems to have a higher concentration of school-age kids then anywhere else in Woodside, Ms. Pugh says.

A Halloween party and other kid-centered activities are popular.

Woodside Glens was originally made up of vacation homes for people from San Francisco, said Paul Fregulia, who also has been here 38 years. Many of the houses were built in the 1930s, he says.

The variety of styles of homes is one of the features of the neighborhood that he loves, he says. And it feels like living in the country, with the redwoods and the creek and the steep valleys, but it's just a few minutes to the town center and the freeway.

Jeanne Carley has been a Woodside resident off and on since she was 3, but she's finally settled down here.

"The Glens is sweet. It's very friendly. People help each other out," she says. Neighbors loan out their driveway space when someone's having a party, since there's very little parking available on the narrow streets, she adds.

-- Kathy Schrenk

FACTS
CHILD CARE & PRESCHOOLS: Woodside Parents' Nursery School, 3154 Woodside Road, Woodside; Woodside Preschool, 3195 Woodside Road, Woodside
FIRE STATION: 3111 Woodside Road, Woodside
LOCATION: Hwy. 280 and Canada Road and Glenwood Avenue to Alto Road
PARK: Huddart County Park, 1100 Kings Mountain Road, Woodside; Wunderlich County Park, 4040 Woodside Road, Woodside
PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
Woodside Elementary School District -- Woodside Elementary School, 3195 Woodside Road, Woodside
Sequoia Union High School District -- Woodside High School, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside
SHOPPING: Woodside Road, Woodside
MEDIAN 2011 HOME PRICE: $1,900,000 ($1,075,000-$2,900,000)
HOMES SOLD: 5

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