It can be said that every forest is a forest, but not every forest is a forest. You have a choice: choose the forest. Fragrant, with soft litter and the harmony of neighboring pines and spruces, creating natural blinds for the light subtly filtering through them. Choose the wildest one, on the Kociewie side of the Wda. Apart from scouts whose tents can sometimes be seen in the forest, few people have ever heard of this part of Tuchola Forest. We share them with you quietly. We believe that the news will reach those who like the sound of silence the most and value the touch of grass tickling their feet with dew more than the sands of the resort.
Bory is the background of our love story. And it goes like this: when we were children, we came here with our families on vacation. We are both from Kociewia, so we knew the local forest lakes and wild swimming areas. Iwonka's family always had the best place on the beach. This is how we remember ourselves: as kids seen on holidays by the water. A dozen or so years later, in high school, we discovered that we had already met somewhere. This time we met for good. As a wedding gift, Iwona's grandmother left us a plot of land in the area where we met: a habitat hidden in the forest, located between a wild lake and the Wda River. Accuse us of kitsch, but the lake is called Kochanka. And this is where we invite you today. We can say with a high degree of probability that you will not find another place like this. There are no buildings within a radius of 800 m. You can walk in the forest for hours and not meet a person. The living room windows offer a view of the lake, the river roars behind the house, and only the cranes and herons living in the reeds know about the place hidden in the forest clearing.
The over 100-year-old house to which we invite you has its own history. He came here from Świętokrzyskie and we suspect that it used to be a village school. This clue led us to the height of the room (almost 3 m!), relatively large windows and layout of the rooms. We reassembled it in our Borowiak habitat and only tweaked it a bit: we put large windows in the bedroom to admire the view of the clearing after waking up, and another large window overlooking the lake in the living room.
The house consists of:
– open space on the ground floor with kitchen and living room,
– 2 rooms upstairs: a bedroom with a view (double bed) and a children's room (bunk bed),
– wardrobe,
– bathroom with bathtub on the ground floor.
We have built a wooden terrace in front of the house, where you can spend many pleasant evenings. Surrounded by lights, you can rest on comfortable garden furniture, while a grill sizzles just a few meters away.
We have an absolute wilderness here. Our clearing is surrounded by a forest, on one side it borders a river and on the other side a lake. There are no buildings or traces of civilization within a radius of 800 m. Your only neighbors will be herons, cranes and storks.
We love to cook and our life revolves around the kitchen, which is why the kitchen in our house is open and arranged to let your imagination run wild. When it's blueberry time - the smell of yeast dough can fill the space. When the surrounding raspberry bushes grow, you will prepare delicious homemade ice cream. A machine to make them is available on site. Vegetables and homemade sausages bought at the local market will be perfect for a barbecue. The local products are of excellent quality. Generously sliced bread with homemade butter, the crust of which is crunchy, smeared with honey from the local apiary is our favorite taste of childhood.
In autumn, you can create delicious dishes from the mushrooms collected during the walk. You can brew coffee from freshly ground beans - there are a grinder and a coffee maker on site. And if you are also planning a holiday from cooking - there are several tasty restaurants around. Some of them are located on the kayaking route, right on the river bank. Some of them are described in more detail in our guide. In it you will also find several recipes for regional dishes, the preparation of which will not be difficult for you.
We would say that time flows slower here, but fuller. The days are long, because when most of the stimuli disappear, you suddenly have space. There is a time for everything:
- morning yoga on the terrace,
– eating long breakfasts surrounded by the forest,
– baths in a bathtub with forest views,
– lying in a hammock and reading books,
– listening to audiobooks during forest walks or listening to the sounds of the forest,
– watching wild birds by the lake – on cold days it is best from the swing suspended in a prominent place in front of the large window in the living room (do you see this photo of a swan and a white-tailed eagle by the lake? It was taken through the window of our house).
The lake on which our house is located has a wild, mid-forest character. They are surrounded by wetlands overgrown with reeds. You will not find a beach over it, but going down to the water is possible - if you would like to bathe in it, it is possible. The nearest lake with a beach is 5 minutes by car. It may already happen that you will meet people there, but the local bathing areas have their own special character, which we like very much. There are no screens and music from loudspeakers, it is intimate. There may be scouts camping nearby in the summer.
When asked about the #1 local attractions, we answer without hesitation that kayaking in Wda. Rafting here is amazing: each time the route can look a bit different. The river meanders and meanders, and nature lives its own life - trees falling into the water create a natural "obstacle course". But don't worry: it's shallow and safe, you can sail even with kids. Rafting organizers regularly clear the river trail so that rafting participants can find their way through the labyrinth.
There is an unusual arboretum in Wirty. This is a research area of the State Forests, where it is checked how foreign trees behave in our climate. At times one has the feeling that a person has found himself in a different climatic zone. In addition, the arboretum is very picturesquely located on the lake. There are numerous viewpoints in its area. You can take a blanket and have a picnic in these beautiful circumstances.
Another charming place to which we recommend a trip is the “Krzywe Koło w Pętli Wdy” Reserve. It is not very frequented and there are no signposts to it, but you should easily find it on the Google map - on it the reserve looks like a balloon. You can leave your car in the car park in Błędno, access to the reserve (initially along the red trail) takes about 30 minutes. Its magic is precisely that it is so hidden. On the peninsula formed by the meandering Wda you will see beautiful old trees and look at the river from a different perspective.
The history of the village of Kasparus in Kociewie dates back to the 17th century, but it is most famous for the school strike of 1907. The oldest buildings in the village are about 200 years old. It is a living open-air museum where you can still see traditional wooden Kociewie cottages and meet native inhabitants who have lived there for generations.
In Wdecki Młyn, right next to the canoe, on the site of the former mill, there is a hydroelectric power plant. If you are interested in the topic of renewable energy, you can ask the owner to show you around, if he happens to be there.
As you already know, we are the authors of a guide to Kashubia and Bory Tucholskie. We have described the most beautiful places in the area known to us, those outside of the guide - but we are aware of this paradox ;) Fortunately, few have yet arrived here. In the guide you will find dozens of unobvious ideas on how to spend time in the area. Of course, he will be waiting for you there.
What’s there for children?
We are the parents of four wonderful kids, so our priority was to provide families with the freedom to spend time together here. The mid-forest clearing, where you can run barefoot, especially in the morning when the dew tickles your feet, hides a playground. The area around is overgrown with blueberry and wild raspberry bushes that are perfect for compote.
Walking along the forest roads, you will quickly fill your baskets with chanterelles, goat mushrooms and mushrooms. In the children's room there are guides for little scouts. They suggest, for example, how to use sticks and cones found during expeditions. For bedtime reading, we suggest books about Sophie's Ant.
The forest tracks around are free of crowds, so you can safely go for a bike ride. There is a canoe marina in the village, Artek Kajaki - they will organize an unforgettable water adventure for you. The ducklings are hanging in the house and just waiting. The SUP board is also waiting inflated. In the nearby mid-forest lakes, the water is so clean that you can spot crayfish, and in some streams even mussels. In the surrounding forests, you can see the tents of scouts coming from all over Poland for camps. It is idyllic, family, peaceful. In the evenings, deer and roe deer walk near the habitat, which come here to water, and when it gets dark, fireflies fly around.
What’s there for employees?
The internet doesn't work very well here, so working from a place so Far in the Woods might not be the best idea. It's better to switch off and use the natural environment to recharge the batteries. As for other network needs - when watching Netflix, the internet will almost certainly crash, but Google and Whatsapp can be done.
