First off you take a chair under our gazebo or out in the sun and relax. Soak in the atmosphere, breath in the fresh air and enjoy the peace and quiet.
Second you can ask and see if any of our year round mental and physical improvement courses are available.
In Spring we offer the Dig the Veg Patch course which after minimal instruction you will find you can do alll by yourself and can last all day and the next!
During August and September there is the wood chopping course, very good at building upper body strength and improving hand eye coordination.
In October there is always a beginners art course that involves learning the basics of external house redecoration and for the more advanced there is our “How to Improve Residential Ambience and Ultimate Tranquility whilst ridding us of woodworm” This course requires gloves and a face mask.
November and December and the “winter” months used to herald the arrival of our Snow Clearing Course but it seems climate change has put paid to that!
Or you could just hang out, choose a mug, drink tea, read a book from my library and maybe play some pool. For the more adventurous there is walking or off road cycling in the woods that surround Barabrith. There is wild swimming in the local rivers, though expect the locals to freak out if you try this anytime outside of the summer holidays!. And there are the local sights to see…read on.
Places to visit near Barabrith
The Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija (simply known as the Petrova Gora Monument) is a World War II monument built on Veliki Petrovac, the highest peak of Petrova Gora (Peter’s Mountain), a mountain range about half an hour’s drive from Barabrith.
After the founding of the first partisan units in Kordun and Banija regions in the early summer of 1941, ethnic Serbs and Croats fought together against the nazis. This region was also a founding site of the Main headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army of Croatia, the Partisan Hospital was active throughout the war.
The creator or sculptor of the monument is a renowned Croatian sculptor Vojin Bakić. Construction of the monument was completed in 1981. Unfortunately things got a bit fucked up in the area not long after (aka the Yugoslavian Civil War of the 1990’s) and the result was that this magnificent building was abandoned, looted and almost ruined.
There is a magnificent 360degree view from the top of the building which can be accessed and climbed through various unofficial entrances.
In the surrounding woods there are apple and chestnut trees. There is a bird watching trail and an old monastery. A short distance from the monument is the old Partisan Hospital hidden in the woods. This was where the Partizans built and maintained a hospital during the war managing to avoid detection by the fascists throughout. The hospital was rebuilt as a museum but after the break up of Yugoslavia it has been largely forgotten. It is now a fascinating testament to the stupidity of war and politics both in the past and present.
There is a Youtube video of both the monument and the Partizan Hospital here!
There are a bunch of interesting Partizan monuments dotted around this area and indeed the whole of Croatia!
Caves!
We live in an area with caves! There is a huge cave system about an hours drive away with over 7km of caves. Only part of it is easily accesible – unless you have diving equipment – but that part is pretty dam impressive. The caves are under the quarry – I kid you not! – of the village Tounj. The entrance to the cave looks out on to a beautiful little valley that we find is never busy and has pools of river water big enough to take a dip in.
There is also the “Gypsy Cave” in the woods next to our house. It consists of two small picturesque caves that alledgedly housed a gypsy family at one time.
Meanwhile not far from Barabrith is the Castle of Barilović on the Korana river. The castle is currently being renovated. On the other side of the river to the castel a short walk along a bicycle track beside the river is another cave.This one is called the Vražića cave and apparently the deep pools inside shelter cat fish! This cave has plenty of bats and mud. There are some fancy photos of Croatian caves here, but please ignore the rest of this crappy right wing paper!
River swimming.
