In early June, Greg Norman and members of Great White Shark Enterprises, visited Ponderosa with daughter Morgan-Leigh Norman to check out the latest golf course construction and to gather information about the Okanagan Wineindustry with the thought of possibly dabbling into the area themselves. Ice wine has yet been added to their portfolio of wines and the Okanagan Valley is recognized as the world leader in Ice Wine production.




Greg Norman’s own passion for fine wine was the catalyst behind the Greg Norman Estate Wines - a collection of wine from some of the best wine growing regions in Australia and California. An avid wine collector and strong believer in the positive role of wine in a healthy, active lifestyle, Norman’s goal was to produce approachable wines that would compete worldwide.





Another highlight of the Norman visit included the 4x4 golf course tour of the progress of golf course construction and taking in the amazing valley and Lake Okanagan views from every hole. Derek Chichak C.O.O. for Treegroup checked in with Norman to ensure that Treegroup is staying on track with Greg’s vision for Ponderosa and Treegroup’s vision, to be a top- ranked golf course from the get-go. As the 7200 yard signature course at Ponderosa progresses, it is more apparent than ever that this course will rival the best courses in North America, if not in the world!

On a recent tour of the Okanagan with MP Stockwell Day, Bill Berisoff reported in the Peachland View newspaper as follows: "Up in the valley in Peachland another world-class project is underway, the Ponderosa Golf Course currently under construction under the guidance of legendary PGA golfer Greg Norman. In a few short years this region will be home to a truly international caliber golf course that may well be the finest in our country. I know from meeting with many Peachland residents recently there is excitement in the air regarding the potential of this new golf course, and the opportunities it will create for the Peachland community."

Along with a world-class Greg Norman golf course and golf academy, the 400 acre new home community of Ponderosa will offer a wide variety of Okanagan Valley real estate options including golf course homes, town homes and condominiums, many with spectacular views and all located within the quaint waterfront town of Peachland. Additional community amenities include a premium winery, luxury hotel, outdoor amphitheatre, village centre with central plaza, cafes, restaurants and an innovative year round outdoor skating rink.

Owning a piece of Okanagan real estate comes with a connection to Lake Okanagan and there is no place where that is truer than in Peachland. There is a natural connection to the water in this peaceful town.

Residents don’t have to live beside the lake to have lakefront property. The views from decks are spectacular. You can smell the clear, refreshing waters everywhere. Drive down the mountain and you see the lake, drawn to its captivating beauty.

Take a stroll down Beach Avenue and it becomes clear why townsfolk call the community ‘Peachland on the Lake’. All summer long, the lake is home to sailboats and power boats, water skiers, wakeboarders and tubers.

Peachland’s jewel is its waterfront. A two-kilometre waterfront walkway is now under construction that will become a walker’s paradise along the town’s lakeshore – 11 kilometres of pebble beaches, most publicly accessible. Numerous docks are available for boat parking or the as the launching point for a dip in the lake. The Peachland Marina has one of the few marine gas facilities on the west side of the lake and residents and visitors can rent boats and personal watercraft.

The municipal day wharf downtown is the perfect place to moor a boat for a short stay in Peachland. From there it’s just a short walk to the many small shops and fine restaurants along Beach Avenue. The town maintains three boat launches along the lakeshore and there are miles of beach available for sunning and swimming.

Built on a mountainside, Peachland gently hugs the lakeshore, giving a real sense of lakefront property everywhere one goes. This is where a connection to the lake is natural and Okanagan real estate is at its finest.

In 2009 Peachland celebrated its Centennial. Heritage buildings and a historical charm continue to draw visitors and homebuyers to this vibrant waterfront town, just five minutes from West Kelowna. Here’s how it all got started.

The story of Peachland really began in the early 1800s with the push north from the Pacific Northwest in search of furs. Within a few decades, trails blazed through the wilderness were used heavily by prospectors driven by the allure of British Columbia gold. Over time, homesteaders began to arrive in the Peachland area and it was they who discovered the true gold of the Okanagan Valley, orchard fruits, notably peaches.

Alexander Ross led an expedition in 1812 up the Columbia and Okanagan Rivers to establish a fur trading post in the B.C. Interior. The group established Fort Kamloops and named Trepanier and Jacque Creeks in the Peachland area.

Twelve years later, Tom McKay blazed a similar trail from Fort Okanogan in Washington State to Fort Kamloops. The trail became known as the Fur Brigade Trail and it cut through the Okanagan Valley by way of Garnet Lake to Deep Creek and then along an upper bench in present day Peachland northward.

Furs were gathered from natives and sent down to the trail to Astoria, Oregon, where they were sent by ship to England.

At the time, Peachland did not exist, but the area did have a stopping point on the Fur Brigade Trail. May Springs (located near the Loan property on Princess Street) provided a rest stop with fresh water for fur traders and, later on, for gold seekers heading north to the Caribou gold fields.

In 1884, Charles Lambly established the Lambly Ranch beside Trepanier Creek. The ranch stretched from the lake back into the gorge (where the elementary school now sits) and was home to hundreds of cattle and an orchard where peaches thrived.

Three years later, Gus Hewitt formed the Camp Hewitt Mining and Development Company, which began mining on the south side of Pincushion Mountain. Hewitt also built a wharf on the lakeshore where steam boats could offload supplies for his mine. The wharf was located at the present day location of Renfrew Road and Hwy. 97 and, together with a camp near the mine, became known as Camp Hewitt.

In those early days, steamboats would make two stops in the soon-to-be Peachland area: Lambly’s Landing and Camp Hewitt — two place names that preceded the name Peachland. W.A. Lang, who became Peachland’s first mayor, opened the first general store in the area next to Hewitt’s wharf and a saw mill quickly took shape next to the store.

In 1888, J.M. Robinson, his wife and a party of his friends arrived in southern B.C. for a holiday, packing in with horses. With all the gold mining activity in the Boundary Country, a bit of prospecting added to the pleasures of their trip to the Okanagan. Robinson and some associates were interested enough that they formed the Canadian and American Gold Mining Company, and purchased Gus Hewitt’s mining interests (the Gladstone Mine).

The Gladstone Mine soon petered out, but Robinson happened upon the Lambly Ranch and had a taste of Okanagan peaches. The snack gave him an idea and soon Robinson purchased as much land as possible. He formed the Peachland Townsite Company and promoted his new town in Manitoba. By 1898, a one-room schoolhouse opened and a post office was set up with the post mark Peachland.

Today the Okanagan Valley region is the fastest growing area of British Columbia. Visitors and new residents are drawn here by the sunshine – over 300 days per year, the longest golf season in BC, the second largest wine region in North America, several major ski resorts and amazing watersports on the numerous fresh water lakes. Okanagan Valley real estate is some of the most precious in the world, and Peachland, situated right next door to West Kelowna, boasts over 11 km of public beach front, the longest in the valley.

The Okanagan Valley used to be a fire maintained ecosystem but human intervention has interrupted the normal growth-fire cycle.
“The ecosystems in the valley here are used to having fires go through them every two to 20 years. Fire is a normal part of the ecosystem,” Forester Richard Swanson said in 2005. “We have stopped fires and we continue to have fuel build-up.”

Pine trees constantly add to the fuel load on the forest floor. Needles fall to the ground, as do branches and twigs. Mother Nature used to take care of the fuel through fire, which would clean out the debris and small trees, leaving open area stands of mature trees.
Aggressively fighting fires for the past 60 years has meant an accumulation of fire fuel. Now if a fire starts in the forest, it no longer hugs the ground and cleans out debris; it devastates and kills everything in its path.

If nothing is done, fuel loads will continue to increase, setting the stage for wildfires like the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire and the 2009 Glenrosa and Terrace Mountain fires.

The District of Peachland embarked on a fuel mitigation program five years ago. Since then, hundreds of diseased, dead and dying trees have been removed from parks and public property. Treegroup will do the same on Ponderosa lands, eventually reducing the wildfire risk throughout one third of the town’s immediate interface areas.

Treegroup is committed to reducing the wildfire risk in and around the Ponderosa lands while protecting critical wildlife habitat. A plan is being developed to revegetate areas at risk of erosion because of beetle kill. A mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, adapted to the climate, will be planted to stabilize slopes and valleys.

Plans approved by the District of Peachland call for 60 per cent of the 400-acre development site to remain natural open space, parks and golf use.