Here, the day begins by listening to a bird radio broadcast from a nearby mirabelle tree. Maybe we could start the day by checking the news from Poland and the world - but why, when the kitchen already smells of freshly brewed coffee, and when cutting bread you can hear the characteristic crackle of crispy crust. The slices are cut thick here and a solid layer of homemade jam is spread on them, and in the other hand you grab a blueberry pancake. All this to have the strength to explore the area. And there is something.
In the very upper right corner of Poland, at the junction of the Polish and Lithuanian borders, lies a unique, although underestimated land. The hospitable inhabitants are descendants of Yotvingians, Mazovians, Lithuanians, Jews and Old Believers, here called Starowiers. The local kitchens smell of potato babkas, kartacze and kindziuk. In the misty wilderness and behind the trees of the Augustów Forest, beavers, eagles, lynxes and wolves hide. You can hide too.
If instead of hiding, you would like to celebrate together, we will be happy to rent you a fireplace room with a sauna. It is ideal for family parties, hen parties, birthdays. We will prepare a party for you for up to 20 people with hot dishes and appetizers. Offer for groups staying overnight at our agritourism.
Olzoja is divided into two parts. We live in the first one, but we invite you to our huge (70m2) living room for shared meals. And if the weather allows it, you can eat on the veranda, where we have prepared a comfortable place to sip coffee after breakfast until noon. The kitchen, where we prepare meals for you, is Ania's kingdom, sometimes through the terrace window that runs along the entire wall you can see how it goes crazy in it. A view that you will never forget. In the second part, connected to the first covered veranda, there are rooms and another fully equipped kitchen, this time completely yours. Independent entrances to both parts: the home and the agritourism part provide comfort and intimacy: for us and for our guests. We can be together, but also separately.
A few steps from the main house we built the so-called fireplace room - a separate building with a sauna, kitchenette, stone fireplace, glass wall and a relaxation/integration area, as well as a mezzanine with mattresses for overnight stays. This is where we organize intimate parties. The building was built on the foundations of Host Grzegorz's great-grandfather's house, and the ash tree planted by grandfather still dominates it. In order to create an intimate and at the same time unique space, a beautiful brick wall was created with old cast-iron windows and doors, through which you enter the unlimited space of the field. There are usually ears of grain swaying there, and after the harvest our horses graze. Next to the building there is a restored dugout from the early 20th century, in which the residents of Posejnel hid if necessary during World War I. This place is special: the stone structure has been preserved in its entirety, the brick floor and a microclimate that cannot be repeated. The room is equipped with a projector, automatic screen, sound equipment and a microphone. Neither conferences nor karaoke are scary to us.
In our Agrotourism we have prepared for you 4 air-conditioned rooms of a high standard, a comfortable kitchen with a dining area and a cozy corner with a comfortable sofa for sitting on the first floor. Outside there is a veranda with a place to drink coffee or wine with a view of the forest and sunsets. We have a whizzing wifi, but at your request we can turn it off and pretend that we have never heard of it.
If you are interested in sleeping, you will sleep wonderfully with us. When deciding to buy mattresses, we decided that a good and comfortable sleep is one of the most important things in our agritourism, we know that the quality of sleep will greatly translate into your satisfaction. Additionally, the ordered filling between the beds increases the comfort of sleeping, because the connection is imperceptible (there is no way that someone's elbow or foot will get stuck between the mattresses). Thanks to the connectors in the Field and Forest rooms, you can connect the beds and create a huge space of 200x200 cm, where four-person families have slept more than once. We have mosquito nets on the windows so that no buzzing noises make it difficult to rest.
Our largest - Family room has a spacious bathroom, hallway and, importantly - a huge wardrobe. The view from the room overlooks the paddocks and the mirabelle plums (we do not encourage it, but you can reach them with your hand). The room has: a large double bed 160x200 cm, a smaller one measuring 90x200 cm and a fold-out spring sofa 120cmx190 cm. The table, the base of which is the construction of an old sewing machine, is a place where you can drink coffee or listen to the morning songs of the mirabelle plum residents. We called the room a family room because it can accommodate even a 5-6-person family with small children.
The attic room - Łąka, which has a bathroom (and the largest shower in the area) can comfortably accommodate 3 people (in a double bed and a single bed). And an interesting fact: the table, which was made from the renovated legs of a sewing machine found in my Grandma's barn, is a beautiful and useful detail.
The Forest and Field rooms have a shared bathroom, and their windows overlook the forest and the mirabelle-pear orchard and the cultivated field. Both rooms have two single beds 90×200 cm and a fold-out sofa measuring 120×190 cm. Thanks to a special filling between the beds, imperceptible during sleep, the joined beds create a huge bed measuring 200×200 cm. This is a comfortable solution for families with small children or for people who like to sleep across the bed. These two rooms are often booked by friendly couples or families with older children: the parents end up in one, the children in the other. A good solution, right?
Amazing breakfasts are included in the price of your stay. Believe me, you won't be able to forget about them. We love to go crazy in the kitchen, so you have the opportunity to try freshly baked bread or challah, homemade jams, ketchup and granola. In addition, Lithuanian toast, frittata and pancakes with blueberries often appear on the table. Sometimes we will serve you a smoothie with nettle, blueberries or strawberries. Our meals also appeal to fussy bellies - we have children ourselves and we know how to feed little explorers well.
Dinners consist of soup, a main course and dessert. We serve soup at the request of our guests during the day, in the form of lunch. We will adapt to you, so that you are taken care of in terms of food throughout the day! We serve regional dishes: czenaki in Lithuanian pots, lentils, kartacze, potato babka, but also pork loin in chanterelle sauce, turkey baked with root vegetables from our garden and a whole host of other delicacies. We cook seasonally: dishes with tomatoes, dill, spinach, blueberries, chard and fresh herbs land on the table. Desserts are the icing on the cake for us – they are to beautifully and tasty complement dinners. In this topic, we conjure up cakes with fruit, brownies with peanut butter, cheesecake with lemon curd and fruit sorbets. In the summer, we serve coffee or an infusion of herbs and fruits from our orchard and garden.
Ears quivering, bellies full and murmurs of satisfaction fill our kitchen – because we cook from the heart, with taste and with products from local farmers and suppliers. We serve what we eat ourselves and consider the best - that's why everything is home-made: my mother conjures the best pork knuckle in the world, my mother-in-law makes delicious roulades, and I specialize in cold cuts, pates (including vegetable ones). Our neighbor Ala makes amazing cheeses, whose cows are probably the happiest in the district (they graze in a meadow by the forest) and I have to say that what Ala conjures with their milk is amazing, e.g. her ricotta with raisins. We have breakfast eggs from my mother-in-law's hens, and our 5-year-old son hunts for them. We also like to make preserves and experiment with combining flavors (the queen of the last season was pear with blackberry). Our mirabelle plums are used to make liqueurs, jams, preserves and juices - no fruit goes to waste (which my daughter Zosia will make sure of). Other fruits and vegetables for preserves come from our or neighboring gardens.
Additionally, we will invite you to an evening tasting of our liqueurs. We talk, get to know each other, have fun and guess the ingredients from which a given liqueur was made - we promise it will be delicious.
As guests, you have access to your own kitchen - we prepare food in the second one, so that no one has to elbow their way to the counter.
It looks like this: we are located on the historical lands of the Yotvingians, hidden behind the trees of the Augustów Forest and the Pomerania Reserve. There are many rivers and lakes around us (there are a dozen or so within a 5 km radius) - you can go to a different one every day. It is worth going on a bike trip (we have bikes on site) or for a leisurely walk after a hearty breakfast. You will be hungry enough for dinner, and you will eat dessert without the slightest remorse.
Our Suwałki Region can also be explored from the level of kayaks and horse-drawn carriages. Our Silesian mares are great guides, who gracefully show you the area (and in winter we invite you for a sleigh ride). The Marycha flows within reach, and a little further on Czarna Hańcza. Water sports enthusiasts - we are waiting for you. And in a forest clearing, by the woods, very close to our house, there is a hot barrel, in which you can take hot, relaxing baths under a sky full of stars.
In Augustów, in July, the Polska Smakuje Fair takes place – it is worth trying all the culinary wonders. In August, in Puńsk (the Polish capital of the Lithuanian minority in Poland, 30 km from us) there is a festival - Zielna. Both Lithuanians and Poles exhibit their handicrafts there – it is worth looking around for gems that were made by human hands. A similar festival of Our Lady of the Herbs takes place in the monastery on Wigry.
In mid-August, an important point on the map of Polish literary festivals became the Village Literary Festival Looking to the East in Buda Ruska (10 km from us). For a few days, this small village turns into the center of the literary world. It is worth visiting.
A bit contrary to the name, but it is in the summer that the festival "Oj Wiosna ty Wiosna" takes place, organized by the friendly Krusznia Association. The festival is a multidimensional cultural event - meeting, getting to know and understanding tradition. Through various means of expression - music, dance, singing, film and photography, affecting all the senses, the organizers want to connect generations and bring old songs, melodies and customs closer. The quintessence of this festival is an evening - night dance to the accompaniment of wonderful and often unknown instruments.
It is impossible not to mention the summer offer of the Sejny Center Borderland of Cultures and Art of Nations - concerts of the Klezmer Orchestra, in the Sejny Synagogue or on the shore of the lake in Krasnogruda; the spectacle Sejny Chronicles (our daughter is part of the 5th generation of Sejny chroniclers), which tells the story of Sejny: Polish, Lithuanian, Jewish families of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s; or the Thursday concerts at the Sejny Jazz Cooperative.
What’s there for children?
Here, the kids beat each other's butts with their heels, sometimes disappearing for whole days and only coming back for dinner. They fly kites, jump on the trampoline, or sleep on it watching the stars, track animals, and after everything they relax in the hammock. However, the day does not end with the sunset, because in the evenings we light a bonfire.
There is a large playground in the garden, and our cats cuddle up to our feet and let us pet them for a long time. It is worth going with the kids for bike rides or kayaking - it will provide a lot of emotions that they will remember for a long time.
We have a lot of cool family games at our disposal. The ones in the fresh air are particularly popular, such as Molkky - the famous Finnish bowling, or badminton and of course football goals. And the area for games is so large that sometimes the children chase each other on bikes.
What’s there for employees?
If you prefer to say "Head of work" in agritourism in the countryside, we have ideal conditions for you to conduct a video conference or even invite a team for a work-hopping. We have equipped the fireplace room with a projector, electric screen, amplifier and good sound equipment with a microphone. A team meeting or workshops are therefore possible.
Especially since:
- we will prepare meals for you (breakfast, lunch, dinner),
- in the evening we will light a sauna or a hot barrel,
- and the kitchenette in the fireplace room is equipped with a coffee machine that makes delicious coffee and, of course, a kettle, and a choice of various types of tea.