On July 1, 1900, the first travelers set off on a journey from Nidzica to Wielbark, stopping on the way at the Puchallowen station. Today, you won't hear the shout "Departure!", and you won't see clouds of steam bursting from the steam locomotive's steel boiler, because the line is no longer in operation. You will be greeted by a red-brick Słonecznik station with a pediment roof, remembering those times, and an old German inscription with the name of the station, which years later became Puchałów.
We don't have much here, but we want to share the atmosphere of a village where almost no one lives anymore and the space of a 160-meter house surrounded by a forest. Railway enthusiasts looking through the windows of the former signal box will be able to feel like station masters, others will enjoy the charms of the spacious interior, over 3.5 meters high. It is a haven for long-unseen friends looking for a place for family gatherings, as well as for those seeking respite, because time has been lost here. You can drink coffee on the platform, walk along the tracks, run into a herd of goats, look for General Samsonov's treasure or follow the trail of villages that have disappeared. You can also lie down on the grass in the shade of a 120-year-old maple and listen to the rustle of its leaves, forget about everything.
You will live in a renovated building of the Puchałowo railway station, which remembers the times when the village was quite large, and trains traveled to and from Wielbark via a double-track railway line (the Nidzica - Wielbark line was opened on July 1, 1900, closed in 1999).
For almost 3 years it was our home, today we live in a nearby forester's lodge, and the station is waiting for family groups, longing friends (who meet us halfway between Gdańsk and Warsaw) and those looking for rest in a place with history and simple, but cozy interiors . It will accommodate 11 people in 5 bedrooms.
The "Słonecznik" type station building consists of the ground floor, where there were rooms for travelers: the ticket office and waiting room, and the adjacent signal room, as well as the first floor, which was the station master's apartment, and the attic. When the building came into our hands, it was scary with holes in the floor, in the roof and boarded up windows.
Today, the 160-meter interior of the station with a pediment roof hides on the ground floor:
– a 3.6 m high living room with two sofas and a bookcase,
– a large and spacious kitchen connected to the living room and a dining room with a large table, ideal for shared meals and playing board games,
– a large bedroom with a double bed (there used to be a control room here) and a bathroom with a bathtub,
- a bedroom with a single bed and a mezzanine, accessed by stairs, where there is a double mattress,
– a bathroom with a shower.
Upstairs, accessed by a creaking wooden staircase:
– two bedrooms with double beds (large 16 m² with a 180 x 200 cm bed and small 9 m² with a 140 x 200 cm bed),
– a small kitchen with a table and chairs,
– a bathroom with a shower.
There is also a 25-meter attic where there is a bedroom with a double bed, but beware - it has no windows.
The whole area is 3300 m², surrounded by forests and meadows. We fenced part of it to ensure the safety of children and animals and prepared there: a gazebo, a place for a bonfire and a trampoline. In the open part (space behind the house that overlooks the tracks) you will find a hammock and a mountain of sand that kids love.
There is one preserved track line (there were two) and a platform nearby.
At the Puchołów Railway Station, you cook your own meals using two fully equipped kitchens. One is located on the ground floor, the other, smaller one is on the first floor.
It's nice to drink coffee at a table in front of the building, looking at the forest, and eat meals in the gazebo that we built next to the station. There is also a fireplace with wooden benches nearby.
We will not hide that our greatest assets are a forgotten village whose forest and meadow surroundings allow you to truly relax, and an interior marked by history that can unite long-lost friends or become a space for family celebration. We are in a remote area, in a forgotten village where, apart from our elderly neighbor, probably no one lives anymore.
We have over 3,000 meters of terrain, and on it:
- a lot of grass to be able to walk barefoot, lie on it or roll with joy,
- a hammock with 4 hammocks covered with a shadow of a 120-year-old maple tree,
- a mountain of sand, which children treat as a sandbox and a springboard that not only the youngest like,
- a gazebo with a table and chairs,
- two large tables (in the dining room and in the gazebo) and a place for a bonfire that deepen the integration.
And in the vicinity:
- countless forest paths, on which you can wander for hours, and return from walks with gifts of the forest - mushrooms, which grow here a lot, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries,
- a multitude of bicycle routes with a 2.5-kilometer section of asphalt running through the forest (it is also a very pleasant jogging route), which is a remnant of the nearby (until 1993) training ground in Muszaki, there are two two-wheelers waiting for you on site,
- Małga nature reserve, over 160 ha, where flocks of cranes, numbering up to 1000 birds, rest in autumn. The reserve also protects the refuges of other species, including rare species: lesser spotted eagle, marsh harrier, corncrake, long-eared owl, kestrel and black grouse. You can also see traces of wolves and meet otters,
- 10 km to Zawadzkie Lake with very clear water, there is a beach with a pier by the water reservoir, you can also fish,
- traces of history in the form of the remains of the former dairy that stood in front of the station and the red brick church tower in the middle of the forest, which reminds that the village of Małga used to be there, demolished together with other nearby towns in 1954, when a training ground was built,
- you can look for the secret treasure of Alexander Samsonov or at least see an obelisk made of fieldstones commemorating the general,
- walking along the tracks, you can meet a herd of goats, sheep, horses, geese and ducks that live on a nearby farm,
- there are meadows where you can come across bouquets and another portion of walking,
- at the turn of August and September, there is a rut, which you can listen to while sitting in front of the station,
- roe deer, deer, hares and elks fall into the meadows, squirrels run in the forests, wild boars and foxes also live here, and sometimes you can also see them.
In the morning, birds can wake you up, because there is a large group of them here, in addition to those that organize their concerts, you will also meet storks, wild geese, buzzards and flocks of cranes. In the evenings you have a great view of the stars from here.
What’s there for children?
We want to provide children with a carefree holiday. Outside there is plenty of space for them to run and grass to rest. We have a mountain of sand, which can be a sandbox or a space for various creative games. When the weather gets warm, we also prepare a small swimming pool where the little ones can cool off on hot days.
There are toys for the sandbox and a three-wheeled bicycle, and inside there is a table and chairs and a cabinet full of toys, where children will find books, blocks and cars. We also have a jumper horse, a house with a tunnel and a large foam puzzle.