It’s the start of summer in Poland, when most people head outdoors for weekends from now right up to October. Indeed, a May picnic in the countryside, in a park or by a river or lakeside is a long-standing tradition.
Those living in urban areas long for access to some green space of their own at this time of year, and so many Polish towns have some suburban parcels of land set aside precisely for this purpose. I remember the time I spend as a child on a small plot lent to us by my uncle, and the joy we had out there, even though the place was barely enough for a small shed, a few trees and some vegetable beds.
Later on, in better times, my parents bought some land of their own in the countryside, and today we spend many summer weekends in a cute, comfortable semi-detached wooden house at the lakeside.
The boom came about 10 years ago, as the city folk flooded the countryside in search of a relaxing change of pace, in the process changing the neighbouring sleepy villages completely.
But owning a summer house in the country is far more complicated than it seems. Let’s say you’ve already dealt with the planning permission and the building firm, etc. Now you need to make arrangements with your neighbours – whose own properties would invariably surround your own – to create some sort of registered community to deal with electricity and water supply. And of course, if you’re at the lakeside, some sort of beach facility.
This was the case at our summer home, where four summers passed before our beach area was finished properly, with wooden platforms for fishermen and a few old boats. And this year brought a new surprise – the community decided to fence off the land surrounding the beach. Every time you go for a walk, you have to take a key with you.
What a way to have a relaxed weekend.
– Anna Paluch
