There is a little piece of paradise just 60 km from Gdańsk, on the border of Kociewie and Kaszuby regions: the Stare Polaszki 13 agritourism. It’s for everyone who is looking for peace & quiet, green surroundings, a fishing spot, a place to go kayaking, cycling, or simply delicious food.
The Stare Polaszki 13 agritourism is a three-building complex with a restaurant, around 30 beds, and a heart-shaped, stocked pond. Everything is surrounded by vast green areas, so everyone will find a quiet spot to contemplate the countryside from a deck chair, far from the concrete heat and noise of the city. The farm has an orchard with old varieties of fruit trees, including apples, plums, and cherries. There is also a vegetable garden, with loads of different natural delicacies: carrots, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, dill, and parsley. The owners assure that every guest is more than welcome between the beds, so if you’re a fan of freshly picked veggies, you should definitely pay a visit to the garden. Of course, all the crops are later used in the kitchen, and the excess is made into kompot (a traditional fruit drink), jams, and other preserves that can be purchased to go, and eaten on cold, November days while reminiscing the summer retreat.
But now, in the middle of summer, there is no need for preserves! The restaurant that is located within the agritourism complex is open all year round and serves delicious, seasonal dishes based on as many local ingredients as possible.
“Our menu is short and seasonal. We rotate it often, although it includes some fixed entries, which are our bestsellers. These include: beef cheeks with hot beets, served with butter-fried kopytka (traditional Polish potato dumplings). Our guests also enjoy our take on pyzy (another type of potato dumplings), stuffed with ribs,” said Katarzyna Krzykowska, the manager at the Stare Polaszki 13 agritourism.
Our repeat guests visit us for one of our super-fresh, whole fried trout from one of the local fish farmers, or for a little less traditional pierogi with trout filling, served with dill sauce. Pierogi is one of those classic dishes that Stare Polaszki 13 has specialised in. In high season, you can try the ones with strawberry filling (made with the Kashubian variety, of course!), or blueberry one. The guests can also try to learn to make pierogi under the watchful eye of the chef during the culinary workshops.
The restaurant also offers dishes with chanterelle mushrooms, which have just begun to appear in the surrounding forests. One of these delicious dishes is sirloins in chanterelle sauce.
“This year, we have also bought one hundred geese for autumn. We will be serving goose meat for St. Martin’s Day. Late summer, on the other hand, is cranberry season, which we use to prepare, among others, duck gravy,” says Katarzyna Krzykowska.
The restaurant also offers a wide range of vegetarian dishes, ranging from salads with delicious, regional cheese, vegetable pancakes served with soured cream, to delicious roulades with vegetable filling, served with sweet & sour sauce.
After a feast like that, it’s good to burn some fat. There are many ways to do that in the Stare Polaszki 13 agritourism. You can rent a bicycle, go fishing in the local stocked pond (the head chef promises to prepare your catch), or take a walk to the lake in the Orle nature reserve, located just one kilometre from the complex. There are optional kayaking trips of varying difficulty on the river Wieżyca, so there is something to do for both amateur and pro kayakers.
“If you have children, then we strongly recommend a bathing site in the town of Struga, which is a 10-minute car drive from our place. All of our guests speak very warmly of it,” says Katarzyna Krzykowska.
Stare Polaszki is also an excellent starting point for a trip to the Tri-City, Malbork, or Bytów. There’s nothing standing in the way of spicing up your holidays with a trip to one of those charming cities. But really, who would want to get up from the deckchair under an apple tree on a hot summer’s day…?
