Time to get down to work in the garden/orchard/veg patch after winter break. Yesterday we sowed garlic and onion, a week ago carrot and sweet parsley.
What are the main pros and cons of owning a (summer) house in the Polish countryside? A few purely private opinions
++++++ 1/ Contact with nature relaxes you. Even those non-stop barking village dogs are so natural and relaxing. 2/ Break out from the noisy, fast, congested city life. 3/ Vast open spaces give a feeling of freedom, 4/ You can have your own produce of which you know how it was grown. 5/ Work-out while tending the garden or patch will help you keep fit and healthy. 6/ A seperate room for each family member - in most city apartments kids have to share rooms. 7/ Good financial investment - prices of houses and land tend to rise, not fall. 8/ This is a little secret, will elaborate in future.
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1/ Good locations in secluded areas require travelling greater distance from the city - you lose time to commute. 2/ Tending the garden etc is time consuming and can be boring after a while. E.g. mowing the grass a few times during the season .
3/ Never ending money box - there is always sth you have to repair or buy each year, sometimes again and again. 4/ Farmers cultivate their fields around your place and it can be tiring during harvest time. 5/ Careless work- out might be a cause of discomfort or even injury.
I think advantages immensely outhweigh disadvantages.
All in all, I am quite satisfied with being an owner of a summer cottage in remote country area but still near a big city. Soon I will develop each point in detail.
Unpaved roads to get to your house, and sewer is with septic tanks and expensive.Drinkable water?Not to mention nosy curious neighbours esp if you are not polish.
Can I contribute with details of the house I bought in the Czech Republic in the Polish minority area? ;)
As long as it is Polish minority area, you have a free hand. :):) Besides, the Czech Republic`s countryside isn`t much different than Polish so I think it will be nice to hear about similarities and contrasts.
If you say in live in Poland then why don't you invest in Poland?
I'll say and for some life is full of contradictions too.
One day you are "fully European" and like Macron oppose nationalism. But then on another day you believe there are Poles living for generations in sovereign Lithuania and they need to be recognized as such. Then a days go by and you say only "real Poles" live and pay taxes in Poland. But then like a weather vane the slightest breeze comes along and your thinking goes spinning in circles and you agree there is a "Polish minority area" in sovereign Czechy.
Well, what's most interesting for me is the Czech attitude towards their neighbours. They simply don't care, but they demand the same in return. There's no problem with nosy neighbours or neighbours being idiots, but don't expect them to actually pay any interest towards you as a person, except in the local pub. Poland is different, and it's obvious that the Polish minority there has adopted the Czech attitude towards others.
Apart from that, what attracted me to the area (it's the area near Jablunków / Wędrynia) was that unlike Polish villages, Czech ones are much more orderly. The landscape on the Polish side is scarred with huge houses being built without any order, whereas the Czech side seems much more organised. Of course, the attraction was that everyone speaks or at least understands Polish there, so there's no language barrier ;)
I'll say and for some life is full of contradictions too.
Hey, Sheety, good, I was looking for you, you are wanted in another thread to show your world expertise. I hope you won`t avoid the challenge for too long? Call there and say yes or no.
was that unlike Polish villages, Czech ones are much more orderly.
That`s interesting. But it is a matter of taste - some people prefer architectonic order, other chaos. I still can`t decide what I prefer. Chaos implies freedom, while order is often forced on people by local or national authorities.
Cracking Delph. I love the Czech Beskidy too - the knedlice, the beer.....the strict laws on no development as you said......Do you know Stare Hamry? Lovely area in both summer and winter.
It does, but when you have a beautiful view ruined by some idiot's castle designed to the latest fashions, I'm not so sure it's a good thing. I was shocked when I first drove from Kraków to Zakopane, though the billboards that litter the Zakopiańska are a true eyesore.
the Polish side is scarred with huge houses being built without any order, whereas the Czech side seems much more organised
I thought it was the opposite... a friend was at a conference on the border (near where the Czech series Pustina* is set) and there were trips into Czech and apparently for many years people could build summer houses on public lands anywhere they could find space and get building materials to which was pretty chaotic...
*if you haven't seen Pustina you need to, one of the best mini-series I've seen in the last 10 years, a devastating look at environmental degradation, cultural nihilism, small town small-mindedness and a generational chasm (not a gap - it's as if adults and their children exist in different universes) I cannot recommend it highly enough
for many years people could build summer houses on public lands anywhere they could find space
Well, not in the uplands or other areas of scenic beauty. Take a trip there and see for yourself. The Czech mountains are a magic kingdom, while the Polish Beskidy are just shite.
They simply don't care, but they demand the same in return. There's no problem with nosy neighbours
Again, the case is ambiguous. Nobody likes nosy neighbours but when my farmer next door called me to say I had left the lights on, I was really grateful. Also, nosy neighbours might be of use in detering burglars. Or, how about senile residents who fall in the garden and can`t get up? That happened to my mother in law while we were away on a trip to the town.
It boils down to your personality. Are you a townie or a country person? As a townie,people poking their noses into my business has always driven me mad.....
I am an urbanite who has always loved countryside. I remember driving with my parents to befriended farmers, then peasants, as a little boy. Everything on the farm seemed so fascinating to me. Till today I love the smell of the pig sty, stable, etc. because they revoke the happy days of my childhood when I could wander freely around the farm and peek everywhere, play with kittens, bunnies and chicks, look for eggs in the hay, climb the horse cart and pretend I ride, see how a cat eats a hunted mouse, look how the fire burns in the stove and help to fuel it, climb fruit trees and pick fruit, etc etc etc.
These are my best memories and they were the main reason I decided to buy that old cottage a few years ago.
Yes, we also bought it because it is secluded and allows us to stay away and enjoy our privacy.
As I said,it boils down to your personality. Personally,I hate the smell of pig sty's and can still smell the stench of chickens at over 100 metres......each to our own....
For my wife and myself, we would take either city or countryside! Oh, if only we could! We're Americans. ( No political or social reasons. We just LOVE Poland!)
The story of purchasing the cottage (or the farm) is a bit unusual, I still can`t believe it happened that way, probably God`s finger was involved. Can you imagine that the cottage was the first ad I ran into after googling Houses for Sale/ up to 50 kilometres from the big city/Price limit... When I saw the pictures of the house, read about the location and saw the price, I knew it had to be mine. :) Cheeky me but I found the house`s exact location in Google maps and went there to have a closer look, after which I liked it even more. Do you know what convinced me? A dead bird of prey which was lying next to the fence. Wow, do they also have real birds of prey there? That was the last straw that broke doubting pawian`s mind.
Having a house in a country is good when you are young ,growing up kids and can take care of everything,but as you get older you have to downsize an,We wish to downsize and also look for ammenties nearby.We (Me & Wifey) live in a 2700sq ft house on an acre of a land but only due to low taxes(we appeal every year) and being near the ocean for kids to come with friends,is lots of work esp snow plowing and mowing lol with mexicans in short supply its getting expensive.But yes living in a flat like we do in Poland has its own charm with restaurants,shows almost 24 hrs and yes NO BIRDS,except there use to be lots of piegons in centre of Warsaw but not any more ( I hear the reason is vietnamese moving in lol)
Good luck with your new house man,enjoy it while you can, life is short.
When you are young those things don't cross your mind. Then all of a sudden you are there starting retirement with an old worn out body. You don't realize the steady unending maintenance that you are able to do (self maintenance) on your home when you are young. Especially one in the country where there is always something to repair such as a plugged septic tank or a broken water well pump. Country living is a lot more expensive and inconvenient then city living. The freedoms and privacy of country living come with a price.
Having a house in a country is good when you are young ,growing up kids and can take care of everything,but as you get older you have to downsize a
Yes, so true. I am not young but fortunately, still can handle many things on my own. But I already wonder how it is going to be when I am senile.
The freedoms and privacy of country living come with a price.
I can`t agree more. Good things in life are hardly ever free. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.
Good luck with your new house man,enjoy it while you can, life is short.
Thanks, I have been doing it for 5 years now. The first years were the time of total absorption and fascination with new opportunities that the estate opened for me/us. It seems that today I got used to it a little. No, I can`t say I treat it as just another life duty which must be carried out. No. But the initial fascination has gone. That`s typical , I suppose.
Your post brings up some very important dilemmas we all face as we get older. We all want......I don't know.....almost a reward for working hard all our lives.....and yet we have to face up to the fact that we are no longer young physicaly...only in our minds,we are still young...
I found the house`s exact location in Google maps and went there to have a closer look, after which I liked it even more.
Today, when I see those pics, I can`t believe everything looks so different now. The vegetation in the front and side garden have been replanted.and they have grown a lot, the house has been replastered and repainted.
Do you know what convinced me? A dead bird of prey which was lying next to the fence.
Not only that. Also, 3 giant walnut trees next to the house. I have always had a weakness for walnuts, they are my fav autumn produce. When we had eventually bought that farm ,the first trees which I ordered for the orchard were 12 walnuts.
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