Which Neighborhood is Close to Nature?

Good friends in their 60s and nearing retirement sold their house and bought a smaller house in Walnut Creek. (They did not need a big house anymore since kids are all grownup and grandkids are getting older.) They LOVE their new home and neighborhood. They had never lived in East Bay before. They have access to the community pool and tennis court and are close shopping. Downtown Walnut Creek is walkable with many wonderful restaurants and shops. 

I've lived in Moraga for 20 years and have raised my kids here.  Pros: semi-rural feel and warm in summer.  Cons:  While there are neighborhoods you can walk from to the one of two shopping areas, there is no 'downtown'.  There is also a country club that you could buy a house in and have access to tennis, pickleball, golf and pools as well as a nice clubhouse and restaurant.  However, it is on the 'cooler' side of Moraga.  In general, the further you get from the Oakland hills, the warmer it will be in summer. We live closer to Lafayette and usually look up weather for Lafayette since it can be 5-10 degrees warmer than the other side of town.  Walnut Creek and Concord are even warmer.  

Lafayette has a nice downtown corridor with lots of shops but also lots of traffic.  However, there are lots of new townhouses going up along Mt Diablo if you wanted newer construction or adorable cottages a block or two off Mt Diablo.  Lots of access to open space and trails in the East Bay, but if you want to walk to a trail (rather than drive), you'll need to focus on what communities have access to or are near trails.  And if you are ready for it, there is retirement community Rossmoor in Lafayette/Walnut Creek. I haven't been out there but people seem to like it.  Best of luck!! 

I would take a look at Rossmoor.  It's definitely going to have warmer weather, nice community spaces, and lots of community.  

Don't forget to consider Sonoma County - just move north from Marin! From my perspective, Santa Rosa meets all your criteria: warmer weather, good lot size (depending on the neighborhood, of course), potentially more bang for your buck (but not the "bargain" it once was, coming from Alameda or Marin counties), very close to nature with a general community emphasis on getting outside - Spring Lake Regional Park, Annadel State park, all the Sonoma County parks, the Russian River, Hwy 12 down the back to Glen Ellen and Sonoma - all very close. Yet it's a fully functional city with easily accessible amenities. There is a vibrant tennis and pickleball community at the Howarth Park courts, SF is an easy trip at off-traffic hours (much easier from here than the deep East Bay - I'd rather take the GGB than the Bay Bridge any day). We moved here 2 years ago and the community has been very welcoming - we love our neighborhood and find our neighbors and other school families to be generally quite liberal and progressive, like us. To be honest, Santa Rosa now reminds me more of the Berkeley I knew growing up than the current Berkeley does now. Work with a good realtor and they'll help you hone in on your ideal city/town - maybe it's not Santa Rosa, but perhaps you'd love Windsor, or Healdsburg, or Sebastopol. (I know a GREAT Sonoma County realtor, feel free to reach out if you want a name!) 

I recommend the Gregory Gardens or Poets Corner neighborhoods in Pleasant Hill.  We are in the same age-bracket as you and have lived in Gregory Gardens (right by Strandwood Elementary School) for the past 20 years.  The homes were built between 1949-1955 and have a lot of mid-century character.  Most homes are between 1200-1900 square feet depending on whether they have been added onto over the years.  They have large(ish) front yards and backyards and are on flat lots. No hills to deal with which makes walking a breeze. The weather is perfect if you can tolerate the warmer summers, and there are plenty of swimming pools around including a lovely one in the public park.  We can walk to the Contra Costa Canal trail from our home which is also a bike path throughout the county including to downtown walnut creek a few miles away. We can walk to the gym, the park, concerts in the park, grocery store, hardware store, coffee shop, etc all within a mile. Within a 5-10 minute drive is downtown walnut creek. And Concord, Martinez and Lafayette are all close by.  The Pleasant Hill Bart station with ample parking is close-by and the public bus system is convenient as well.  In these Pleasant Hill neighborhoods you will find a lot more diversity than Lamorinda and Walnut Creek and people are down to earth and friendly.  

I don't know if you're interested in 55+ communities, but if you're open to it, you may want to consider Rossmoor in Walnut Creek.https://rossmoor.com/ 

Definitely look in Walnut Creek. There are many neighborhoods to choose from. Recently “The Woodlands” was featured in the Chronicle as a great place for Leave it to Beaver living.  Northwest WC is close to Concord with great ethnic food for regular people (not $$$$). We have lived here for 20+ years and enjoy being close to Heather Farms Park. Groceries, doctors, dentists, Ace hardware are all within walking/biking distance.  Many homes have pools so the hot summers are a delight.  

Have you considered Rossmoor?  It is an enormous 55+ community (about 8-9k people) bordering Walnut Creek. It is like a small city and had tons of activities and political groups, with which you can get involved as much or as little as you would like. You can buy a big house down to a small condo, or you can rent. 

You should check out Walnut Creek! We have young kids and are a ways from retiring, but I can see us retiring happily here. Aside from the obvious Rossmoor retirement community, WC has numerous lovely townhouse neighborhoods, so you can still have a nice amount of space but the HOA takes care of things like landscaping. For nature, there's Briones and Mount Diablo, the Lafayette Reservoir, and many walking/biking trails. Walnut Creek Arts and Rec has a great catalog of offerings specifically for age 50+, from classes to trips. And of course, there's the Lesher Center for arts, as well as all the shops and restaurants.