Podlaski Zakątek

Podlaski Zakątek is a large, fenced plot right next to the forest, with two houses on it: Duży Zakątek, a historic Podlasie cottage, and Mały Zakątek, a former outdoor summer kitchen transformed into a guest house. Both houses have been restored and modernized. Duży Zakątek welcomes guests all year round, while Mały only from April to November, IMPORTANT: the houses are located close to each other and other guests may stay nearby. Each house has a separate and fenced green area within the plot, on opposite sides of the buildings, so you won't be looking into each other's hammocks :) In Duży Zakątek we have: – 2 bedrooms with 2 double beds, – bathroom with shower, – kitchenette with dining room connected to the living room, – living room with fireplace, fold-out sofa and desk, – porch with table and chairs for evening parties - and on the opposite side of the porch, a small terrace under an apple tree with chairs and a table, perfect for breakfast or doing nothing in the sun. On hot days, there are 2 fans at your disposal, which provide good cooling. The windows and doors have mosquito nets. Duzy Zakątek has an individual, fenced green area of approx. 500 m², a place for children, dogs to play and sunbathing/hammocking. Little Corner: – it is open only for the season: April 1–November 15, this year it welcomes its first guests in 2023 – consists of 1 room with: 1 double bed, a kitchen and dining area and a small lounge and coffee area (music from vinyls from the adapter will make your morning coffee more enjoyable) - it is equipped with a fireplace that makes the evenings more pleasant and provides additional heat if necessary (on colder days you can also use 2 electric radiators). – has a bathroom with a shower At your exclusive disposal is a green area of approximately 100 m², fenced, with a fireplace for evening sitting by the fire. a grill, lounge chairs and a table, and a hammock swaying invitingly in the distance. The remaining part of Podlaskie Zakątek is a large common space with a fireplace and a station with a hot tub (there is a fee for using it, and the price list can be found in the "How much will I pay?" section). At night, the entire area is well lit by lanterns. Upon arrival, you will be greeted by our neighbor, Svetlana. It is to her family that we owe our introduction to the local realities, knowledge about the area, nature, and the fact that we felt here like a second home. We hope you will feel the same way. Feel free to come with your pets. On our fenced plot, dogs can run freely while you relax.

In Duży Zakątek there is a comfortable kitchenette that will allow you to prepare your own meals. It has a dishwasher, microwave and toaster. To brew coffee, we have a glass brewer and a filter coffee maker, In Mały Zakątek, the kitchen area is more basic: equipped with a 2-burner induction cooker, no oven or dishwasher. At our friendly neighbor, Svetlana, you can buy organic eggs and homemade vegetables or jams. In autumn, we encourage you to pick mushrooms in the forest.

With our neighborhood, there is not much here in the immediate vicinity. Here you come for a break from urban reality, breathing in the forest, counting the stars in the sky. If you dream of trips and discovering Podlasie, be prepared for car trips or take bikes with you (the latter option is highly recommended). In our house and garden you can: – read books as much as you want in a hammock or listen to podcasts while lying in the grass, – have evening barbecues and chat on the terrace, – splashing around in the tub – we recommend it especially at night: under the starry sky and with the forest around it is extremely pleasant, – run, go crazy, play badminton and whatever you want, because the area is huge and we have space for many pleasant activities. In addition, the forest will call you right from behind the fence, the nearby paths will call for bicycles (you can rent them from us: we have 3 for adults and 1 for youth), and runners will carry themselves forward when they see in what circumstances you can run here. Near us there is the Repczyce Reservoir, a very well-kept beach and bathing complex, which, despite its attractiveness (it has an equipment rental and a cafe), is quite intimate. 300 m from our house runs the eastern Green Velo bicycle trail. Beautiful Orthodox churches can be seen in the nearby villages: Zubacze (5 km) or Rogacze (12 km). The closest to us, because in Czeremcha, 4 km away, every year at the end of July, the Festival of Many Cultures and Nations, popularly known as Days of Czeremcha, is held - then music bands from Poland and abroad are invited, presenting various music genres, culinary and handicraft workshops, exhibitions and movie screenings. You can also wander around the fair and taste local products. However, Berezyszcze is a great starting point for visiting more distant attractions. If we were to recommend you places for trips, it would definitely be: – Skit in Odrynki, an Orthodox hermitage founded by Archimandrite Gabriel, a hermit monk. Skit is very picturesquely situated, in isolation, in swamps, among the backwaters of the Narew river basin. You have to reach it by a wooden footbridge, which is 800 m long. – Land of Open Shutters, covering 3 villages near Hajnówka, located in the Narew valley. In fact, however, it spills over to more small villages: Ciełuszki, Kaniuki, Ryboły, Ploski ... It is in them that there are magical huts with wooden decorations, so characteristic of this region of Poland. You won't see these anywhere else. – Bohoniki and Kruszyniany – two border villages inhabited by Tatars, i.e. Muslims from Podlasie. Here it is worth seeing mosques and miziary (cemeteries) and trying traditional kolduny and pierekaczewnik. – Holy Mountain Grabarka – the most important religious place of the Polish Orthodox Church. Its history dates back to 1710, when the local community of Podlasie was decimated by a plague epidemic. According to the revelation of an old man, salvation was to be found on the mountain. Today there is a tradition of drinking water from the holy spring. – Topiło Reservoir in the Białowieża Forest – it gives the impression of a natural lake, is rich in flora and fauna, and a causeway runs through its middle, along which the narrow-gauge railway tracks run. – Speaking of the railway… the narrow-gauge railway from Hajnówka to Topił – runs on weekdays and weekends from morning to early afternoon. It was launched by the Germans during WW1. for transporting wood, and today it allows you to watch the Białowieża Forest from its windows. – And of course, the Białowieża Forest itself, which is the largest virgin forest in Europe. Getting to know the forest is organized and takes place on marked trails and at a certain time with a guide. All this in order to disturb the ecosystem in the minimum and least expansive way.