I actually grew up in El Dorado Hills. The town itself started off slowly in the late 50s/early 60s as a bedroom community for Aerojet executives. The earliest “villages” were Park, Ridgeview, Crown, and Governors village where very nice, non-cookie cutter houses can easily be found. The mega development of Serrano (think Agrestic from the show Weeds) started off in the mid 90s and still isn’t fully built out yet. Biking within town is easy due to full North-South bike trail, as well as easy connection to Folsom (and towns west) via Johnny Cash and Jed Smith trails. There is An incredible amount of outdoor recreation via Folsom lake, Sierras, etc within 5 min to 2 hour drive. Schools are incredible. If I had looked a bit harder for a job in the area after college, I definitely would have moved back there. It is an excellent, but expensive place to live that really boomed in the early 90s once Intel began a major expansion of their Folsom R&D and chip fab facility.
You mentioned proximity to the lake, well Browns Ravine is in El Dorado Hills, and you can also get bonus lake access via the American River through the Salmon Falls bridge.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!