Walnut Cove: Private Mountain Living, Minutes from the Best of Asheville

The Cliffs at Walnut Cove has a unique feel in every season, but as spring and summer begin to blossom across the mountains, the community fully comes into its own: mountain laurel lining the back nine, wildflowers threading through the trails, the particular stillness of a Blue Ridge morning before a round of world-class golf. There is a reason this valley, tucked between Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway, draws people back season after season. Life here has a quality that is difficult to name and nearly impossible to leave. 

This is what life looks like at Walnut Cove. 

Private by Nature, Connected by Design

Walnut Cove was designed around a paradox that most communities never resolve: the feeling of being completely away while remaining effortlessly connected. Bordered by Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway, the community exists in its own mountain world, where the pace slows, and the outside world simply falls away. Yet downtown Asheville is just 20 minutes away, and Asheville Regional Airport is only 10. Whether home is a permanent address or a seasonal retreat, Walnut Cove puts everything within reach without ever asking you to compromise the quiet.

Golf at Walnut Cove 

The Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Walnut Cove is one of the finest courses in the Carolinas. It’s the only championship course in the region to have debuted with a PGA Tour event, a distinction that speaks to the design’s caliber from the very beginning. 

“Walnut Cove provides an extraordinary natural setting for golf. Areas in this course make you feel as if you are playing through a natural forest.” — Jack Nicklaus 

The front nine winds through open fields that were once farmlands; the back nine traces cascading mountain streams and stands of native mountain laurel. Bentgrass fairways, southern exposure, and elevation between 2,000 and 2,250 feet make the course playable year-round, with summer mornings in the Blue Ridge offering some of the finest conditions in the Southeast. 

The course has earned recognition from Golfweek as one of its Best Residential Courses in America. And beginning this fall, it adds another chapter: The Cliffs at Walnut Cove has been selected to host the PGA TOUR FedEx Cup Biltmore Championship, with the event returning to the course annually for the next four years. For members, that means watching professional golf played across the same fairways they walk every morning. 

Where the Round Continues 

At the heart of Walnut Cove stands The Club Village, a gathering of architecture and atmosphere that earns its own following. Upon opening, Golf Digest named it the country’s best new clubhouse, a distinction that still resonates the moment you arrive. The Tudor-style Tavern at Walnut Cove is where members gather after a round, offering full dining, a polished bar program, and a new beer garden that has quickly become one of the most sought-after spots on the property for an evening among friends. The Golf House, designed to evoke the quiet grandeur of a European lodge, offers private locker facilities, members’ lounges, and al fresco dining with views that make every meal feel well-deserved. 

The practice facilities complete the picture: a multi-tiered natural-turf teeing ground, meticulously manicured putting and chipping areas, and professional instruction for every level of the game. For those who play and for those who aspire to, the golf campus at Walnut Cove is built to reward. 

Summer at Walnut Cove 

Summer unfolds here with particular ease. The 18,000-square-foot wellness center opens to its outdoor pool as temperatures rise, giving members a place to restore alongside a mountain backdrop that never grows ordinary. Tennis courts, group fitness programs, a spa, and an indoor lap pool round out an offering that keeps pace with every pursuit, every season. 

Beyond the gates, 500,000 acres of Blue Ridge wilderness become like a backyard. Miles of hiking and cycling trails weave through national forest land where summer wildflowers and mountain laurel bloom across the warmest months. Pisgah National Forest, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and dozens of additional parks are all within easy reach, lending every weekend a sense of possibility that never quite exhausts itself. 

Asheville in the Summer

Twenty minutes from Walnut Cove, Asheville spends its summers in full bloom. The culinary scene carries MICHELIN recognition, the arts scene spills into open studios and galleries, and the evenings have an unhurried energy that is simply part of life here. Here are a few ways members spend their summers in the city: 

• Scenic drives and trailheads along the Blue Ridge Parkway, with rhododendron blooms through early summer
• Live music and open-air concerts throughout downtown, including the long-running Shindig on the Green series in Pack Square
• Working artist studios in the River Arts District are open to visitors throughout the season
• Waterfall hikes and river floats in Pisgah National Forest, just beyond the community’s back door
• A dining scene that rivals any major city, with farm-driven menus and craft beverage programs that draw visitors from across the country

And at the end of it all, home is only 20 minutes away. 

One Membership, Seven Communities 

Membership at The Cliffs opens access to far more than one community. Across all seven Cliffs properties, members enjoy a network of world-class amenities that is simply unmatched in private mountain living:

• Two Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Courses, two Tom Fazio designs, and a Gary Player Signature Course
• Full-service wellness centers, tennis, and equestrian facilities across the network
• Full-service marinas on Lake Keowee with concierge boat service
• A year-round calendar of club events spanning all seven communities

Seven communities, one membership, and a life that never stops being fulfilling. 

A Home for Every Vision 

Walnut Cove offers several distinct enclaves, each with its own character and sense of place. Whether you are drawn to wooded seclusion, trail-side convenience, or golf-front views, there is a setting here that fits the life you have in mind. 

• Cove Park: A semi-custom neighborhood set along walking trails, steps from the Wellness Center and Club Village. Open-concept floor plans built for entertaining, with homes starting at $1,995,000
• Southridge: Eleven premier-view estate homesites set across one of the highest peaks in Walnut Cove, held in reserve for over a decade. Homesites range from 1.14 to 10.55 acres at elevations between 2,600 and 2,900 feet, with panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the French Broad River, and Asheville below
• Custom homesites: For those who want to build from the ground up, available land throughout the community offers the freedom to design entirely on your own terms 
• Custom homes: If you can’t wait to call Walnut Cove home, you’ll find an array of charming move-in-ready cottages and townhomes. 

All new construction is available through Cliffs Builders, The Cliffs’ construction program that delivers the satisfaction of a custom build with the simplicity of a built-for-sale process.

The Life You Have Been Looking for 

The Cliffs at Walnut Cove is not a single thing—not just a golf community, not just a mountain retreat, not just an address near one of the country’s most celebrated cities. It is all of it at once, woven together in a valley that somehow feels both removed from the world and completely alive within it. For those who have been searching for that combination, the search ends here.