(MONEY Magazine) – When asked what it's like to live in the Danbury metropolitan area, Sue Kimberley, 42, says, ''Metropolitan area! Have you been here?'' She has a point. Danbury itself has only 70,000 people, and neighboring towns consist of as few as 1,500. Driving through the 308-square-mile area, you pass New England church steeples, apple orchards and roadside signs offering MULCH AND HAY FOR SALE. Drive a bit longer and you inevitably come across luxury condominiums, ritzy three-star French restaurants and the 39-acre Charles Ives outdoor music center that some locals call ''the new Tanglewood.'' It is precisely that mix of country life and urban amenities that have drawn the Kimberleys and thousands more to the Housatonic River Valley region recently. Sue Kimberley moved to nearby Newtown (pop. 20,370) from Denver in August 1985 with her husband Dick, 41, their son Sean, 16, and daughter Casey, 10. Dick, then a United Parcel Service district manager, was transferred to the headquarters in Greenwich, 40 miles south of Danbury, to oversee lost packages and security. ''We found out that the closer you get to Greenwich, the more expensive the house,'' says Sue, a certified financial planner with Bailey Financial Services in Danbury. They decided on two criteria: a home no more than an hour's drive from Greenwich and, in contrast to their Denver house, one not located in a typical cookie-cutter subdivision.

After only a three-day search, the Kimberleys found an 1850s farmhouse that had been converted to a delightful five-bedroom residence on 1.6 acres, complete with an in-ground pool. Houses were selling within days as prices soared 2% a month, so the couple offered $100 more than the $167,500 asking price two days after they saw the house. The purchase turned out to be a smart move. Although appreciation has slowed to around 7% a year, the Kimberleys estimate their house is now worth about $320,000. Sue and Dick also think the area has been wonderful for their children. Sean fishes for trout and Casey sometimes rides a skip saucer behind a family friend's motorboat on nearby Lake Lillinonah. ''Sean would be lost in the enormous Denver high school,'' adds Sue. ''Here he is one of 265 kids in the grade.'' Children get first-class treatment by townspeople as well. Sean, a trumpeter, and the rest of his high school band lead off Newtown's annual Labor Day parade. ''It's like living in the 1950s,'' says Dick, who attended high school in all-American Melbourne, Fla. about then. When they want a taste of the 1980s, the Kimberleys need only drive 90 minutes to Manhattan. An annual family ritual includes a Thanksgiving weekend trip to the F.A.O. Schwarz toy store and the Big Apple Circus or Radio City Music Hall. The Kimberley family has few complaints, beyond the fact that Danbury's limited bus service to many of the surrounding towns has made it hard for Sean and Casey to get around on their own. Casey has another beef: ''On a scale of 1 to 10,'' she says, ''the school food is a 2.''