Owning a house in true countryside of Poland - stories

You're talking about U.S?

Poland has started doing the same as well now.I shifted towards Poland and its also getting expensive now,I think another 10 years and they will really destroy investment that took a boom in 15 years.My friends tell me western Ukraine is the new game now but I am too old for a new country.

Sure thing, just like Venezuela :)

@Coop
In Lesser Poland. Why?

@johnny reb
I am afraid there is a misunderstanding. We still live in a big city while the cottage is for weekends and summer stays.

As for being blessed, yes, I already said there must have been God`s finger in it.

sorry, i don't get it :) What do you mean?

It is the area of south eastern Poland,known in Polish as Malopolska and with its capital in Krakow.

So far this year we have been able to relish the following fruit from our country site:
cherry (both sweet and sour), strawberry, raspberry (black, purple, red, yellow), red currant, honey berry, tayberry.

We are still waiting for: black and white currant, blackberry, goji berry, seaberry, apple, pear, plum, peach, gooseberry, hazelnut, walnut.

And, a little success: one mini kiwi bush managed to get pollinated.

Why is it that so many houses in Poland countryside have no bathrooms where the most bedrooms are?I have visited so many houses in the villages that will have 3/4 bedroom upstairs and 1 bathroom on ground floor.Is there a reason?

Yes, that is an interesting issue. I suppose those country guys simply want to save money - adding another bathroom upstairs with all installations and then furnishing it can be quite costly. One bathroom downstairs is enough for them - the family just needs to organise their sessions there according to a time table. It is good for them as that will teach them cooperation.

Fug that cooperation,I wanna go I wanna go man.

If you don`t want to learn cooperation, how about learning to dance in front of the bathroom?

nope no thanks,I leave that for you to enjoy,I prefer gym for a workout. Thats one fuggin reason I dont go to my wifes village house.

Hmm, do you mean you occupy the only bathroom in the house for so long that other family mambers get angry at you? :):)

Yes I do with my coffee and cell for emails,I dont have to rush in time to teach english.Its called retirement benefits for the last 14 years.(lol & of course my **** dont stink)

Today I am again in our summer house, preparing our vacation stay. I am washing the floors, cleaning the windows and the bathrooms, still finishing the hall renovation. Plus some works outside because it is messy. Last year I didn`t have time to do everything and my wife complained it was dirty. So I have to be more careful with cleaning now. :)

OK, guys, how about a deal? 30 minutes work in the house and 5 minutes break in the PF?

PS. I have already brought a few dozen sodas or juice, a few packs of mineral water, two packs of milk and a crate of beer for me and my eldest sons if they decide to come for the weekend. The new fridge is working fine, most mosquitoes have disappeared, the hall looks wonderful compared to what it was like before. It is going to be a great vacation again, of course I will keep you up to date on everything.

PS. don`t worry, my beer belly which you saw in winter always disappears in summer when I work in the field/orchard/garden)

But the horse flies have taken over from the mossies , if you haven't noticed already

Not yet. They appear here but only when it is dry and hot for a long time.

My typical day while on the farm is quite busy - as if it wasn`t vacation at all:):) I get up at 7 or 8 and go to work. First, I feed the animals. Next, I do different stuff: e.g, weed the veg patches and replant veg which grow too dense - now, black radish, my fav.. I pick fruit - now it is cherries, currants, raspberries and currant gooseberry. . I mow the grass in the orchard and remove weeds around fruit trees and bushes. I water plants in the front garden. At 11 am, breakfast. Afterwards, it is time for family work - I engage kids into light or hard jobs, depending on age. Today we podded fava beans and watered the fruit trees. Yesterday we trimmed trees and bushes everywhere.

Lunch - 3 pm. Then some free time - books, board games, computer games, outside games. When kids play online games with their mates, I go out again to do some quick jobs. Dinner -8 pm. And again some free time. Bedtime - before midnight.

As you can guess, I am losing my fat belly fast. Good for me.

PS. It hasn`t been raining for a few weeks now, the clayish soil is as hard as a stone. I was planning to do some earth works but have to wait with it till the ground gets wet.

while you're farming there, look back onto the post prl with nostalgia :)

youtu.be/cuInxqdYghk

its remastered on tvp vod pavian :)
vod.tvp.pl/website/ekstradycja-i,36399020
vod.tvp.pl/website/ekstradycja-2,38851730

Your house is a work in progress then. Does it all need renovating or just certain areas of it?


Apart from the rabbits, what else do you have?


It sounds like lots of hard work, but nice rewards; I would kill for all that lovely fruit and veg :)

My brother in law always says when he comes for a visit that the cottage should be pulled down and sth modern built instead. :):) So, if we are as radical as him, then yes, the whole summer house needs a lot of renovation. But if we aren`t, then let it be like now: the house is fully habitable with enough room for 6 people, 5 bedrooms, two toilets, airconditioning, internet, hot water. I finished doing up the hall, the last thing which hadn`t been done since the purchase.


All our home animals except the snake: the turtle, the tortoise, and mice. Cats are fed in the evening my my wife. Aah, and it isn`t rabbits but one she-rabbit.


Yes, it is lovely although it occured to me yesterday when I started picking and eating garlic that most of my veg is twice or thrice smaller than in the shops. I don`t use fertilisers except natural compost and mowed grass.

Also, I mentioned fava beans. About 10% had bugs in them. I don`t mind, a little meat is good for you. :):):) Better a small bug than the periodic table. :):):)


The loveliest thing is this isolation. Yesterday, after a few days, I saw a human - he went past our gate with a dog. We exchanged greetings.

Wow OP, great lifestyle. I'm also an urbanite loving country life. Coming from an even less developed economy however. I wonder if those cottages are expensive for local Polish people? Can they afford them? Shall one go work in Western Europe and invest those money in Poland?

Where's the fun in that? Far better to renovate, that way all the character of the cottage is preserved. Don't much like modern buildings. Do you know how old it is?


Yes, but yours is all 100% natural. Plus, if Poland is like the UK, supermarkets only stock veg of a particular size and shape to meet retailer standards. Only recently are we seeing veg promoted which is 'wonky'. Shops selling local produce are obviously different ( and better ), but type of soil grown in might make a difference too.


Now that can't have been Dougpol1 with his labrador because you said hello, plus you weren't on a beach ;)
Are you really in the back of beyond then? Very few passers by?


Sounds idyllic doesn't it, but for sure, there's a lot of work involved.

Maybe, but they taste twice or thrice better!

Well, certainly you can`t buy one with a one month salary. :)
I can`t tell you whether they are expensive or not because it is relative. One thing is certain - the older and more run down, the cheaper they are. And the further from the city, too. We bought ours for a certain price and then we had to invest the same amount to turn it into a comfortable place for the whole family. Originally, there was only one bedrooom, now 5. (Mind, I also count "the living room" as bedroom).


Yes, when I had the windows changed, I kept the pattern of the old ones. When I had the floor in the hall tiled, I had bought tiles which looked like the old PVC flooring. The colours of the hall are also like original. Only the new rooms are completely different. :)

It is about 50.


No, it wasn`t Dougpol cause the man was young. When he first went by, I was doing sth behind a big bush so he didn`t see me. When he was coming back, I was on the drive and he greeted me. He sounded too joyful and assertive to be an accidental hiker, I guessed he was one of my neigbhours` son.

Yes, it is in the outback, if I want to meet a human, I have to walk a few hundred meters towards the village.


A lot of work but I like it. It allows me to stop those racing thougths about new riddles which are my obsession. hahaha. And I prefer it to going to the gym - at least I do sth useful in the fields and get reward from it. :)

Great that you are restoring it in keeping with how it would have originally looked :) Obviously a labour of love.


So the other bedrooms are the new rooms you were talking about? They were rooms used for something else or have you added an extension?


Boonies even ;)

No extensions, half the house was used to keep farm animals, plus a big larder. They were all converted into living quarters. When I saw the inside for the first time, it struck me as very primitive but I immediately realised what opportunity for an alteration it was.

Boonies was a new one to me, in Polish it would be behind the ass, :)

Well, I tried to keep some original ideas but skipped some, too.

E..g, I didn`t keep the colours of the facade. Yellow is brighter, thus a more joyful colour to me.

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Really nice Pawian. Super colour. Can I ask if you insulated it and do you pay neighbours to watch it for you?
Wifey's property on the other hand isn't in such good condition and needs some work:)

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Only the front was insulated because you can see what deplorable condition it had been in at the beginning. So I had everything done on the front wall. Other walls weren`t because the plaster on them was still OK. Besides, we don`t use the house in winter yet. One day I can think of insulating all walls.

I don`t pay neighbours to watch it, the area is safe, local villagers are really OK as I already wrote and strangers don`t come here.

Your wife`s property certainly needs a lot of work. Much more than mine, I suppose.:)