Autor: David J. James

61 year-old UK origin Chartered Accountant and business consultant, and of late hotelier, who loves languages, literature, history, religion, politics, internet, vlogging and blogging and lively written or spoken discussion, plays backgammon and a few other board games. Walks and listens to Audible for hours a day usually, and avoids use of the car. Conservative Christian, married to an angel with advanced Multiple Sclerosis. We have three kids, two of them autistic, and we live in the forest near Zielona Góra, Poland. We have a small hotel called Agroletnica which you can book either on Agroletnica.com or on Booking.com. David has own consultancy called Quoracy.com delivering business governance and audit/valuation solutions as well as mentoring. Author of the GoldList Method for systematic optimal use of the long-term memory in learning. We have two greater Swiss Mountain dogs, nine cats, bees and a fine collection of tropical fishes.

Witamy w Gospodarstwo Agroturystyczna „Agroletnica”! (Welcome to Agroletnica Country House!)


For English, see below.

Agroletnica to gospodarstwo agroturystyczne z dwudziestoletnią tradycją, niedawno przejęte przez Davida i Elenę James. Oferuje gospodarstwa agroturystyczne i wyżywienie, w tym bankiety dla maksymalnie trzydziestu osób na uroczystości rodzinne, firmowe lub akademickie.

Znajdujemy się obok gęstego lasu w pobliżu zabytkowej wsi Letnica, dawniej Laettnitz, z zabytkowym luterańskim budynkiem kościoła obecnie wykorzystywanym do koncertów, dworkiem i różnymi mniejszymi atrakcjami, w otoczeniu innych wiosek z unikalnymi atrakcjami i 15 minut jazdy od Zielonej Góry , dwudzieste trzecie co do wielkości miasto w Polsce ze 141 tysiącami mieszkańców i ładną starówką oraz pagórkowatą topografią pozwalającą na prawdziwe odczucie otaczającej Ziemi Lubuskiej i jej 49% lasów, najwyższy odsetek zalesień w Polsce w województwie .

Posiadłość leży na 77 arowej działce między dworem a lasem, który ciągnie się nieprzerwanie przez 19 kilometrów aż do samej rzeki Odry.

Jesteśmy mniej niż dwie godziny jazdy od czterech światowej klasy miast; Berlinie, Dreźnie, Wrocławiu i Poznaniu. Goście spoza Europy mogą skorzystać z tej jednodniowej wycieczki do wszystkich tych miejsc wynajętym samochodem.

Dysponujemy 9 pokojami gościnnymi, w tym:

1 pokój gościnny z czterema łóżkami i łazienką
2 pokoje gościnne z 3 łóżkami, każdy z własną łazienką
2 pokoje gościnne z 2 łóżkami i każdy z własną łazienką (jeden z nich jest w pełni przystosowany dla osób poruszających się na wózku inwalidzkim)
oraz 4 pokoje gościnne z 1 łóżkiem i wspólną łazienką.

Łącznie dla 18 osób. Nocleg kosztuje 80 zł od osoby (90 jeśli to tylko jedna noc). Latem 90PLN/100PLN (aby pokryć koszt basenu) i podczas Świąt Wielkanocnych, Bożego Narodzenia, Nowego Roku, oraz Winobranie są też nieco wyższe ceny.  Proszę uzgodnić przed rezerwacją. Długie pobyty zaplacone z góry mogą negocjować lepsze ceny.

Mamy bardzo dobrego kucharza, a śniadania serwowane od 8:00 do 10:00 kosztują 39 zł, a danie główne serwowane od 17:00 do 21:00 to 49 zł za posiłek.  Jest opcja pokowanego śniadania bez ciepłych elementów zrobione w poprzedni wieczór i gotowe na pobrania z lodówki.  Wszystkie posiłki nalezy jeden dzien do przodu zamowic jako minimum.

Rezerwacje są gwarantowane po otrzymaniu 30% ceny.

Do naszych innych atrakcji należy basen 12*6*1,5, czynny od maja do października, bezpłatny dla gości.
Bezpłatne korzystanie z rowerów dla gości (jest ich pięć, kto pierwszy ten lepszy) i wynajem rikszy (12 zł/godz.)
Miejsce na ognisko i grill z dwoma opcjami do wykorzystania, z pełnym wyżywieniem w cenie 80 zł od osoby oraz z własnym wyżywieniem w cenie 30 zł od osoby.

Nie ma bezpłatnej opcji korzystania z miejsca na ognisko, ponieważ drewno jest obecnie drogie, a także należy je nadzorować ze względu na zagrożenie pożarowe lasów.

Oferujemy spotkania ze zwierzętami z rosnącą liczbą zwierząt, zbieranie grzybów (w zależności od pogody) oraz różne imprezy.
Oferujemy przede wszystkim ciszę, spokój i naturalne piękno w jednym z najłagodniejszych mikroklimatów dostępnych w Polsce. Dlatego David i Elena szukali nieruchomości dokładnie w tym regionie, ponieważ przed poszukiwaniem nieruchomości dokładnie zbadaliśmy kwestię mikroklimatu i wiemy, że jest to najlepsze, co Polska ma do zaoferowania – a jak Państwo wiedzą, Polska ma wiele do zaoferowania.

Istnieje możliwość organizacji bankietów na uroczystości rodzinne, imprezy firmowe, zjazdy klasowe itp. Nasza jadalnia pomieści w komfortowych warunkach 35 osób.

Posiadłość posiada również bogatą florę i faunę, można spotkać wszelkiego rodzaju owady, a także robaki powolne, ropuchy, zaskrońce, restarty czarne, pliszki srokate, kruki, sójki, kanie rude, bociany, kukułki, żurawie, sarny, daniele, kuny sosnowe, krety, dziki, nietoperze i jenoty. Pomijając bardziej oczywiste i pospolite zwierzęta i ptaki, które można zobaczyć w większości miejsc, a także te naprawdę rzadkie, które częściej można zobaczyć gdzie indziej, ale nawet tutaj byłoby to bardzo szczęśliwe, aby je zobaczyć, takie jak szare wilki lub orły przednie. Tu ostatnio wilki dosyć często występowali.

Niedawno widzieliśmy burzę meteorytów w pełni, ponieważ tak daleko od miasta brak oświetlenia umożliwia doskonałe obserwowanie gwiazd.

Pełne szczegóły i warunki są widoczne na tej stronie w części „Ogólne warunki”, a każda rezerwacja lub zameldowanie oznacza akceptację warunków.

Ta witryna jest skonfigurowana w taki sposób, aby zawierała różne artykuły i strony, na których gromadzone będą informacje interesujące dla odwiedzających. Ten artykuł jest przypięty na górze obszaru bloga. Mam nadzieję, że będziecie czytać dalej i zobaczycie jeszcze wiele naszych artykułów, które z czasem będą jak pamiętnik z doświadczeń Agroletnicy i nie tylko.

Witamy w Agroletnicy!

 

English version

Agroletnica is an agritourism ranch of twenty years’ service, recently taken over by David and Elena James. It offers farmstays and meal plans, including banquets for up to thirty-five people for family, corporate or academic occasions.

We are situated next to dense forest near the historic village of Letnica, formerly Laettnitz, with its historic Lutheran church building now used for concerts, its Manor House and various smaller attractions, surrpunded by other villages with unique attractions and 15 minutes drive from Zielona Góra, the twenty-third largest city in Poland with 141 thousand inhabitants and a fine old town area, and hilly topography allowing for a real sense of the surrounding Lubuskie district, and its 49% forest, the highest afforestation percentage in Poland for a wojewodship region.

The property lies on 0.77 hectares of land between the Letnica manor house and forest which continues unbroken for 19 kilometres all the way to the Odra river.

We are less than two hours drive from four world-class cities; Berlin, Dresden, Wrocław and Poznań. Non-European visitors can take advantage of this to day trip to all these places with a hire car.

We have 9 guest rooms, of which there are:

1 guest room with four beds and a private bathroom
2 guest rooms with 3 beds and each has a private bathroom
2 guest rooms with 2 beds and each has a private bathroom (one of these is fully adapted to wheelchair-bound visitors)
and 4 guest rooms with 1 bed, and shared bathrooms.

For a total of 18 people. Night’s rests cost 80 PLN per person (90 if it only one night). During the summer when the pool is working, these prices are a little higher, namely 100 PLN for one night and 90 PLN for multiple nights per person. There are events such as Christmas, Easter and the Zielona Góra Wine Festival when the prices are higher because everything is oversubscribed. Please check the prices with us before booking.

We have a very good cook and breakfasts served from 8:00 to 11:00 are 39 PLN and main meal served from 17:00 to 21:00 is 49 PLN per meal. There’s also a packed breakfast for 29 PLN without cooked elements for those needing to start before 8:00.

All meals need to be booked in advance. Given that this is a small hotel and not every guest wants to eat here, we don’t keep a large stock of food and we don’t have a menu with a lot of choices.

 

Bookings are guaranteed on receipt of 30% of the price.

Our other attractions include a swimming pool 12*6*1.5, functioning from May to October, and free to guests.

Free use of bicycles for guests (there are five, on a first-come first served basis) and rickshaw for hire (12 PLN/hour)

Campfire and grill area with two options for use, fully catered for 80 PLN per head and self-catered for 30 PLN per head.

There is no free option for the use of the campfire area, as wood is currently expensive and also it has to be supervised because of forest fire risks.

We offer animal encounters with a growing number of animals, mushroom collecting (subject to weather) and various events.
We offer above all peace, calm and natural beauty in one of the mildest microclimates available in Poland. This is why David and Elena looked for property in exactly this region, as we diligently researched the question of microclimate, prior to searching for property, and we know that this is as good as anything Poland has to offer – and as you will know, Poland has a lot to offer.

Banquets are available for family occasions, corporate events, class reunions, etc. Our dining room will comfortably seat 35 people.

The property also has a rich flora and fauna, you may encounter all manner of insects as well as slow worms, toads, grass snakes, black restarts, pied wagtails, ravens, jays, red kites, storks, cuckoos, cranes, roe deer, fallow deer, pine martens, moles, wild boars, bats, and racoon dogs. This is leaving aside the more obvious and common animals and birds you will see in most places as well as the really rare ones that you are more likely to see elsewhere, but still even here would be very lucky to see, such as gray wolves or golden eagles, in theory they are here also. (An update to that is that we have had some wolves here of late. This year they appear to have somehow got this side of the Odra.)

Recently we saw a meteor storm in full effects as this far from the city the lack of lighting makes for excellent stargazing.

The full details and terms are visible on this site under the part „General Terms and Conditions” and any booking or check-in implies acceptance of the terms.

This site is set up so that there are various articles and pages in which information of interest to visitors will be collected. This article is pinned to the top of the blog area. I hope you will read on down and see many more of our articles, which in time will be like a diary of the Agroletnica experience and much more.

Welcome to Agroletnica!

A couple of anecdotes from the history of Agroletnica

One of the joys of having taken over an existing and well-loved secret bijou holiday destination is that we’ve inherited some guests who are long-term regular visitors to this house.

Pan Z and Pani D are with us now and have been here already on twelve occasions. As luck would have it, their thirteenth visit is with the new owners. Will they still like the place after it has been in our hands for a while?

They seemed to know more about what is actually here than we do. For example, the other night they were able to show us where there was a grill that is used with the campfire. I didn’t even know it was there. This saved our bacon, or whatever „karkówka” is in English. I am so ill-versed in the ways of the barbecue, grill, campfire, cook-out or however you call it that I thought you could cook karkowka on spikes just ike they do with sausages. The face-palming by locals was almost audible. But ok, we have lived so far in locations where you simply aren’t allowed to have a grill in your yard, and if we went to one outside, then it was organised and someone else was doing the grilling. So actually I never really experienced doing an open-air grill.

We had a lovely group yesterday for a hen party. Pan Z and Pani D warned us that we should be on our guard, as on one of the occasions they had been here before a hen party had let off a lot of confetti into the swimming pool that clogged up all the workings and needed a total change of water.

That’s when I wrote the penalty for doing that into the GTCs – if anyon wants to know where that sentence came from.

PLN 5,000 may sem a lot to you, but in fact the water in a 12*6*1.5 metre pool, which has already been treated chemically regularly in order to be just right, certainly doesn’t cost less than that. When you think about it it comes to a penny a litre and you certainly can’t get it that cheap in Tescos. Confetti isn’t the first thing that springs to mind, maybe, when one thinks of things that can render a pool’s entire water content as needing replacement, but that’s what happened back then.

If someone wants to have a holiday with access to a private pool, they cannot expect it to be as cheap as at a place without a pool because you may be the only Guest in the pool for days on end, but maintaining the pool costs much more than maintaining the rooms. But it is a treat, a luxury that speaks for itself, you can feel like a Bond villain, minus the sharks swimming around it of course. That’s in the sitting room, but it’s just an Epalzeorhynchus bicolor, and even Ian Fleming’s dodgy ichthyology (see Mr Big getting bitten in pieces by a leopard shark, which is such a laugh) wouldn’t stretch to that particular „shark” anybody any harm.

Anyway, this time I had a lovely, cultured group of very educated and civilised ladies here who behaved themselves very nicely. The stories I heard about the lewd behaviour of that other group and what else they got up to besides clogging up the pool I simply cannot repeat here, on a family website.

One of the very interesting tales Pan Z told us was of an occasion when he was here andthe former owner got a call from someone saying that they had arrived in Świdnica and couldn’t find Letnica anywhere. It turned out they had gone to the much better known city of the same name which is about 200 km to the south. It has 60,000 people whereas our Świdnica, in whose Borough the village of Letnica lies, only has a tenth of that number.

People also get Zielona Góra and Jelenia Góra confused, as they are both „Berg” places, like the thing that sunk the Titanic, and just as cold in winter.

That’s why I have a map on the right-hand side margin on every page of this site. There’s no excuse for not knowing where we are!

Another tale we heard from this veteran couple concerned one German visitor who, on hearing that on the news they said that ball lightning had been seen in the Lubuskie. He immmediately panicked and got ready to run for his car, expecting thunderbolts to land on him at any minute. The fact is that the phenomenon is so rare that if there is any sighting at all it is newsworthy. That was why it was no the news, rather than as a huge hazard. But when you go abroad I suppose there is a bit of a tendency to expect that the the rare is actually commonplace.

On that note I remember my 1982 visit to Jagdschloss Glienicke next to the Glienicke bridge that was famous for swaps of prisoners such as spies between East and West (something that has become topical again recently). I remember feeling disappointed that in my twenty minutes or so of gazing at the bridge I did not see one single spy swap.

The Mayoress of Letnica visits Agroletnica Agrotourism Ranch

Sołtyska Małgorzata Jagoda z Eleną i Davidem James. Photograph courtesy of Sławomir Stańczak

Mrs Małgorzata Jagoda, the Mayoress of Letnica (which for a village is called in Polish „Sołtyska”) came to visit Elena and myself to welcome us to the village.

We discussed the current and future activity of the Agrotourism Ranch including the Zero-percent Octoberfest which is 14 months away, which was an idea warmly received, with promises of help in the form of the loan of a large marquis tent belonging to the village authority.

We discussed the issues of cable internet and of the best ways to push for the pavement in the village to be extended as far as this end of the village and also an additional request stop for the bus service near our gate. This will be of service to us and our guests and also to the several new single family homes to be built nearby in the next few years.

One particular initiative which will break the first new ground in our co-operation with the community will take place on 14th August, ie in three weeks from now – a village walk will take place along a specially signposted forest walk which has been produced with access facilities and signposts and information posts along the way to encourage the leisure use of the forest environment which is a treasure of our Community. This walk will take place on the Saturday afternoon and will finish at our Ranch, with a campfire and a marquis, with sausages on the fire and pickled cucumbers, cold drinks, tea and coffee and music. We hope to meet many neighbours on the event and to let them see for themselves what facilities we have should they require a venue for a christening party or family get together.

A new re-opening for Agroletnica!

Dla strony w języku polskim, proszę odwiedzić http://www.agroletnica.pl

 

Starting from July 2022, the agrotourism centre „Agroletnica” in Letnica near Zielona Góra in Poland is under new ownership and management.

This centre was known and loved by many guests from a large number of countries over the course of twenty years under the care of its builder and owner Włodek Sroka and his wife Lidia Sroka.  Their unique location, building and environment, style of hospitality and the food Lidia cooked had guests coming back sometimes for many years. Many of them became dear friends of the Srokas. They also raised a family in the family home attached to this small country hotel. But after many years they decided it was time to retire and pass the baton over to a new owner.

David and Elena James have lived in Poland for many years, mainly in Warsaw for many years. We have not been deeply involved in the hospitality business – David is a UK origin Chartered accountant –  so a steep learning curve awaits. However we are determined to welcome both the long term guests of Włodek and Lidia in the accustomed style and in addition build our own group of happy, returning customers, based on a sense of hospitality derived from our own family backgrounds as well as our faith values.

What is on offer here? First and foremost, the wonderful countryside of the Lubuskie region. We are in the middle of a huge forest, largely around thirty years old but many parts of it are older. The village of Letnica itself was Laettnitz before the second world war, and was part of Germany. There used to be a thriving brewery in the village because the water was of such high quality, and we run on our own supply of subterranean water, with an excellent balance of nutrients and high in iron, which is beneficial to the organism. We ourselves do not filter our well water, and we feel well in all senses of the word. The country house comes complete with a 12*6*1,5 metre swimming pool, (unheated but with summer being what it is here, you wouldn’t want or need to heat it). The use of the pool is free to guests with an overnight stay.

We are still in the investment phase, but one of the first things that our Letnica has added to the already very good country residence we had taken over from the Srokas is several adaptations to the needs of wheelchair and mobility scooter users. We have readapted one double room so that it is easily accessible with a wheelchair or mobility scooter, and that is the room closest to the pool. People who need it have priority to book it. There are several ramps facilitating access to different levels of the property as well as stairlifts to the upper floor and the basement, and finally there are handrails and other helps in the lavatory and by arrangement the walk-in bath in the private area can also be made available to someone unable to use the shower. Elena says that she has put together the access helps which she herself (as an MS patient with mobility issues) wanted from hotels which claimed to be good for the disabled, but was unable to find in practice. Our improvements to access are designed by the disabled for the disabled. We don’t claim that everyone will be ideally suited as disability comes in many guises, but there will for sure be a range of disabled people who will be very well served by what we have done so far, and there is more to come.

Additional novelties we have include a rickshaw for hire to guests and the ability to use a piano in the refectory. The old pingpong table is still here, the billiard table is gone and in due course will be replaced by a weight room for those who like to do barbell training. There is a jukebox instead of the old sound system and this combines the old and new technology to do some quite clever things. In addition we invested in a top of the range De’Longhi espresso machine with a broad repertoire of coffee recipes.

As a non-farmer (or „not yet a farmer”, as we prefer to say) the way that the term „farmer” is defined in law, we have to run this agrotourism business as a usual „działalność” and so there is a fiscal till, VAT invoices when required, etc. This is mainly of relevance to those who are from Poland and travelling on business.

We’re proud to announce that we’re still the home of the all-Poland blues harp workshops run by Mr Leszek Kowalczuk.

We also intend in October 2023 to produce an annual event „the 0% Oktoberfest” or „Oktoberfest zero-procentowy” in partnership with breweries which produce the interesting array of non-alcoholic beers. This will be accompanied by German music and will be a confident celebration of the shared roots this part of Poland has with Germany. Keep checking in here to keep up to date with how this plan develops. Why zero percent? We don’t have a liquor licence and we don’t intend to apply for one. We’re Gideons and would like to be faithful to the Gideons mission, and selling liquor and tobacco are against the rules. This is why you’ll also find Gideons New Testaments in our hotel rooms. These days it seems that the only way we Gideons can get our Bibles into hotels is to buy the hotel! (That’s a pleasantry, of course, but you may find an element of truth in it).

On that Oktoberfest note, guests from Germany who like to come to see the place their ancestors lived in are 100% welcome here.

Guests from further afield who would like to come to Europe and see both the natural base of this continent and also explore some world cities could not be better served. You have a good chance to see some of the wildlife of the region that may be unfamiliar to you, and in addition you can visit not only an array of smaller, charming towns like Zielona Góra, but we are also in day-tripping distance from four world cities, being less than two hours drive from Poznan, Wroclaw, Berlin and Dresden respctively. The best thing an American visiting Europe can do is hire a car and from our base in Letnica explore to his or her heart’s content. Again, this will be of particular value to Americans, Canadians and Australians (etc) wishing to rediscover ancestral roots in this part of Europe.

A large number of new attractions are on the way, including the big picture plan to help preserve endangered breeds of farm animals and we will keep readers informed in the blog section of this site. Electric bikes, specially marked forest walks, canoes and more are all in the pipeline.

By the way there is a Polish language site for Agroletnica at http://www.agroletnica.pl , which is the old site just with the new contact details and prices, while the main language for this international website for Agroletnica will be English as well as other languages. The articles in English are not necessarily just translations of the content in any of the other languages, and vice versa, but I will probably write in the language I feel like writing, and hopefully there will be enough info and enough content in each language.