Castle Barn

At the southern extremity of Planinsko Polje, where the morning and evening mists drifting across the flat karst landscape create unforgettable images, lies a little patch of countryside of such magical diversity that it has earned the nickname of "Land of the Gnomes".

Numerous half-hidden springs dotted along the slope come to life here after heavy rain and, together with the water from Lake Cerknica that comes rushing from Škratovka ("Gnome Cave"), fill the channel of a torrential stream that then winds its way through the lush vegetation to its outflow into the river Unica. The patch of countryside around the little house where the mansion's inhabitants learned the arts of husbandry (farming and housekeeping) is at its most beautiful in its winter guise. The frozen springs create mystic images all the way along the bank, as far as the place where sheets of ice were cut in bygone times, ready to be stored in the nearby icehouse. 

At the foot of the slope on which the original 12th-century Haasberg Castle once stood, the overgrown ruins of the country house that succeeded it – once one of the most magnificent baroque buildings in Slovenia – stand in splendid isolation and defy the passage of time. Beneath the old stone bridge, worn down by the rattle of carriage wheels and horses' hooves, flows the river Unica, offering peace and tranquillity to anglers and nature lovers. Take the time for a stroll, recreation or a short break in the shelter of the trees, surrounded by the sounds of the forests. Tranquillity can also be found within the walls of the old Castle Barn, looked after, like the rest of the "Land of the Gnomes" by the volunteers of the Škratovka Society (Društvo Škratovka Haasberg), who aim to restore to nature at least some of those images that speak to us from faded postcards and still live on in the stories of older folk whose ancestors were fortunate enough to live in that time.