The park and manor in Bukowiec are places whose history dates back to the 14th century. It was then that the von Zeidlitz family - descendants of medieval Germanic knights - decided to build their ancestral home in the newly established village of Bukowiec. Currently, you can still admire the general outline and shape of the former palace, even though in its place in the 18th century, Prussian Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden built a completely different building - a neoclassical manor with a farm.
According to the 18th century idea of building gardens and parks, this place was to make maximum use of the natural landscape of the surroundings, which Count von Reden and his court gardener certainly achieved. The foreland with numerous rocks, streams and ponds was designed to highlight all the individual elements without overshadowing the others. There are no perfectly trimmed flower beds, so typical of English-style parks, but we guarantee that a walk around naturally growing vegetation, where nature plays the first fiddle, is no less pleasant.
After the war, the manor house became the seat of the Agricultural Technical School, and later the People's University. Unfortunately, no farm buildings have survived today. The park and manor house in Bukowiec are currently owned by the Association of Karkonosze Communes, which makes every effort to ensure that a walk around the manor house inspires subsequent generations of tourists.
Attractions offered by the park and manor in Bukowiec
Admission to the English-style manor park is free, and you should spend at least 2 hours to explore all its nooks and crannies. Among the park's thickets there are plenty of attractions for tourists of all ages. On site, you can also use the services of a guide and even take part in a night tour of the park with torches. The facility also offers geocatching services, which involve searching for treasures using professional equipment and GPS receivers, as well as the possibility of organizing themed birthday parties for young adventure enthusiasts. The park in Bukowiec is also a perfect place for a longer walk combined with a picnic among natural, architectural and historical attractions. The designated route is adapted for strollers, so you can easily explore all corners of the park, even with younger children.
The park and manor house in Bukowiec include, among others:
- A cafe in Artystyczna Stodoła – artistic space for various types of workshops and concerts. Here you can not only drink delicious coffee, but also buy interesting regional souvenirs.
- Tea Room Pavilion filled with photos of palaces and shelves of more or less antique books.
- Gardener's House, a charming green house with an extremely fairy-tale shape.
- Wild Meadow, where cattle have grazed for centuries.
- The ring of hills around Bukowiec, from where you can admire various rock plants.
- Observation Tower, built on a 480-meter hill from which you can admire the panorama of the Karkonosze Mountains and Rudawy Janowickie.
- Ruins of a neo-Gothic abbey constituting a kind of mausoleum of the von Reden family.
- Druid Circle, i.e. a complex of granite rocks surrounded by a circular grove of oak and beech trees, with, among others, growing A 200-year-old impressive oak - the oldest tree in the park, over 20 meters high and with a trunk diameter of approx. 660 cm.
- Complex of ponds and watercourses, in which the peaks of the surrounding mountains are reflected. Each pond is carefully marked and has individual characteristics, e.g. "the pond of the gloomy chapel" or "the pond of swans". In turn, next to the largest pond there is a fishing marina and a grassy beach.
- Swamp, marshy area with a stream, a bridge and a cascade.
- Temple of Athena, garden pavilion located on a hill covered with a beech forest.
How to get to the park and manor house in Bukowiec?
If you want to reach the park and manor house in Bukowiec from Jelenia Góra, follow road 367 towards Karpacz. We head towards Mysłakowice, then Kostrzyca, and finally turn towards Bukowiec and the landscape park. The route is approximately 15 kilometers long. Bukowiec is approximately 7 km from Karpacz, and from Szklarska Poręba by approx. 20 km.