The land around Clermont is something of a rarity in Florida; here, the great flatness of the rest of the peninsula wrinkles into great rolling hills dotted with deep blue lakes. For most of the town’s history, it was an island in the middle of a sea of orange groves, but as the area grew and the citrus business yielded to tourism, many of those orchards have become communities of gracious homes with boathouses balanced on the edge of the still-blue lakes. In the far reaches, lands that grazed cattle behind barbed wire now graze thoroughbred horses behind endless white fences, and old farm roads (some of them actually curvy!) have become bike trails. In Clermont, there is still room to spread out. As population grows, so does an innovative restaurant scene and plenty of shopping, though the international shopping destination that is Orlando is but a half-hour away.