Tara in The Beskydy Mountains Nature Reserve.
The Location
Tara is the middle of a 16,000 sq. mile Mountain Nature Reserve in the Beskydy Mountains in Czech Republic (the biggest Forest in Europe). It is surrounded by 20 acres of its own wildflower meadows with a spring and 2 ponds.
Tara was the most important building of a tiny mountain farming community based on it and the views across the forest valley to Slovakia and Poland are just magical with not a road or building in sight.
Luckily we are not completely cut off and just round the corner 3 kilometers away is a delightful little village called Bila that has its own ski lifts for ski activities in winter and off-road cycling, downhill scootering (great for kids of all ages) and walking in Summer. Bikes and scooters can be hired by the ski lift in Summer and taken on the ski lift to explore all the routes there that can go for as long as you want, or just scoot down the 6 kilometer down hill lane back to Bila. It is a really lovely place to visit in Summer to wonderful explore scenery.
In winter Bila is a child friendly small ski resort with a ski park for little ones to have their first ski experience under the guidance of the instructors.
In Summer, Bila also has a lovely childrens play park with trampolines, lots of play activities, deck chairs for parents and a tree-top walkway / zip wire for small children to age 12 – beside it are three cafe / restaurants where grown ups can relax with a latte.
The village also has a small Wildlife park with boar, various deer and wild sheep.
Take the scooters to the top of the mountain on the ski lift and freewheel down through the 6 kilometre forest lanes, past the wild life park and along the small river that Bila lies beside, all the way back to the Ski lift: great fun and children love to stop off to play in the river or try out the slides and swings that are scattered along its banks.
Bila also has 2 small general stores and a wonderful historic wooden church : Christmas Mass is just amazing there with the beautiful wood pillars and paintings (standing room only)
The Beskydy Mountains are part of the White Carpathians.
These mountains stretch from the Czech Republic in the west along the border of Poland, with Slovakia and up to Ukraine in the east. They are a wonderful home to all the rarest of European fauna and flora although larger predators like bear and wolves are extremely rarely seen and when seen appear near us are in the National News. I have seen lynx, eagles, black cranes, honey buzzards, ravens, mountain hares, deer, foxes, and heard wild boar .
And best of all the forest is a treasure trove for mushroom hunters with a long season and the very best Ceps to be easily found.
The forest is criss-crossed with many paths and cycle tracks which are nicely indicated on google maps so if you hire a bike from Bila or bring your own there are literally hundreds of miles of wonderful scenery to explore. I have made a simple to map which guests can use to walk the 4 kilometers up to the top of the mountain through the forest. This brings you out on another ski lift and the tiny lane for locals only, that runs along the saddle of the mountain where the high alm farms are dotted and where there are a couple of cafe’s for walkers and cyclists and of course the stunning wooden church. The views from this little road are awesome and you can clearly see the High Tatra mountains with their jagged peaks in the distance.
To Get to Tara
This could not be simpler: Ryanair flies direct from Stansted to Ostrava airport which is just 45 minutes from Tara – you can arrange cheap car hire from the airport from Budget Car Hire
The Farmhouse
Tara is a large historic log house based on 4 big stone corbel arched cellars, it took us 6 years to carefully restore it using Church renovators and traditional Historic building methods. The end result is something quite unique with massive ancient log walls with moss in between for insulation, beautiful high vaulted ceilings and 3 layers of hard larch shingle tiles on the roof: each one hand hewn and individual in character.
Of course we have made use of the most traditional systems of heating like the massive farmers oven in the sitting room with it’s own staircase leading up to a space where 4 people can lie down on top of the oven and doze away the day. There are 2 further wood burning stoves that you can cook on including the big one in the kitchen which again was hand made and just perfect for cooking on – these are really only recommended for winter because of the heat they generate, but in a area where a winter storm could easily drop the temperature to minus 10 degrees (even minus 25 degrees in exceptionally cold weather). These woodburning stoves keep Tara fabulously warm and we will never run out of logs to burn.
We do have the luxuries of discrete infrared space heaters, telephone controlled central heating and underfloor heating in the bathrooms and good Wi-Fi – but nothing beats a log in the farmers oven or the kitchen range stove when it gets really cold.
The furnishings are a mixture of traditional, antique and elegant practicality (new luxury sofas and beds; lovely old wardrobes, dressers, chairs and tables) and of course, beautiful Persian and traditional Czech farmhouse rugs.
The valley side of Tara has a gorgeous 40 foot balcony with nine windows to enjoy the wonderful valley views in winter and in summer. All the walls around the windows can be taken down in Summer leaving a lovely open balcony to take meals on and marvel at the beautiful panorama.
As the main living area along with 3 of the bedrooms and the 2 bathrooms are on the ground floor Tara is also a great place for family reunions where some of the more elderly members may not want to negotiate stairs.
Tara is a real 5 star luxury treat; a fabulous mix of authentic historic style with subtle luxurious touches to make staying in Tara such a relaxing pleasure, it is a place where you will find peace and tranquility in a wonderful Nature location.
What To Do
We have put together an extensive list of various activities and all the lovely places to visit around Tara : Please look at our ‘Discover this Location’ pages.
Close to the massive Sance reservoir lake and within view of the Slovak and Polish borders, this holiday house in Czech Republic has different adventures for you and the family in every direction.
Enjoy exploring local villages, historic nearby castles and even visiting waterfall walks in Slovakia where you can walk up the narrow canyons using the metal staircase, as the torrent hurtles down fall after fall from high in the mountain to the valley.
Horse riding is available near Tara where you can explore the meadows and mountains. Of course in winter there is skiing in the mountains across the valley, you can hire bikes from 4 local areas (many routes lace their way throughout the mountains) and there are many more exciting features.
There is a great tree top assault course with enormous zip wires in Trojanovice which our whole family loves called Tarzania the website seems to concentrate on small kids, but believe me four of the tree top routes are really only for very fit soldiers and nobody is going to get me on the BIG SWING or Freefall JUMP !
… and from there there is a ski lift to the famous Historic Pustevny mountain top Fresh Air Spa’s, from the top of the ski lift you can hire scooters for a 9 kilometer downhill freewheel or walk the 3 kilometers along the ridge top past the statue to Radegast the God of Beer (and the local brewery which explains the beer kiosk there ) to the stunning Wooden Church – the views are just wonderful.
Of course there are wonderful villages to visit like Stramberk, where an early European man was discovered in the caves or the fabulous Museum village of Skansem , which are really interesting places to spend the whole day. There is also a rich Industrial heritage and a visit to Vitkovice , once Europe’s biggest mining, iron and steel production complex and now largely a futuristic Industrial museum, conference/art centre and exhibition hall. Certainly a very interesting place to visit and a place where kids can push buttons, pull things and see things they would never see anywhere else.
And naturally there are great aqua parks both inside and outside as well as lakes to swim in, or hire skates and skate around.
A holiday in Czech Republic is something truly quite special, click the cottage ‘Tara’ below to find out more and to view the amazing photos of the house and the area.
