Tips in the surroundings

The Svinenský potok is a beautiful watercourse of the Novohradské hory and Novohradské podhůří mountains, in which rare aquatic fauna such as the brook lamprey, the stone crayfish and the pearl mussel can be found. The stream flows through the municipalities of Trhové Sviny and Žumberk. The Svinenský or Trhosvinenský brook is one of the largest tributaries of the Stropnice river. It rises about a kilometre from Kuní Hora in the Novohradské hory Mountains near Velký Jindřichov (Český Krumlov district).

Klažary, formerly Glasern, was said to be the most impressive village in the area. The name already shows that it was predominantly German. The name of the village is derived from the German word Glaser (glassmaker).After the eviction after the war, the village was resettled, but the number of inhabitants has steadily declined, today it is almost zero. The village has become so deserted that today its former splendour is no longer visible. The most interesting thing about the village today is its shape. It is a valley village, with individual farmsteads standing on slopes above a small stream, with long strips of land stretching backwards from the individual farmsteads. The farmsteads stood alone, mostly enclosed on four sides. There are few valley villages in southern Bohemia, but there are several close together in this area - Kondrac, Mezilesí, Dluhoště,... The road passes the village today. However, there is a very busy cycle route around here. A very famous chapel, standing in a field, can serve as a landmark. It is on several cycling guides. Much rarer, however, are the pillar-shaped stone St. Nicholas with a large head, standing by the first house, but a bit off to the side, not immediately visible (its location is not original).

Before your departure, be sure to visit the beautiful spectacle just a few steps from your accommodation. It is a pleasant walk full of magical natural scenery. If you are of a more adventurous nature, try to find one of the caches located in this area. Also worth mentioning is the Passion of God. They date back to the early 18th century.
You can extend your walk by following the blue trail, it will lead you through the picturesque village of Mezilesí and on past Hlívkovo and Dezingrovo Mill.

At the edge of the forest, to the right of the road between the fields from Klažary to Pěčín, approximately 500 m behind the village of Klažary, a majestic oak tree, characteristic for its towering stature, stands at the foot of the forest.
Its crowns reach 22 m high and you could use two grown men to hug its trunk. The circumference of the trunk at the last measurement was an impressive 353 cm.
It is a so-called summer oak, found mainly in floodplain forests, in the Polabí region and also in the South Bohemian basins. The summer oak is a thermophilous and light-loving tree species, which is not suited to late frosts and permanently lowered groundwater. It grows mostly on mineral-rich clay soils.

Žumberk is mentioned as an example of a fortified village. In fact, the village included a large fortified manor with a fortress, which was later built over. The fortress was repaired in the 1970s and today it houses a branch of the South Bohemian Museum. A large pond has recently been restored under the fortress.
There are not many monuments of folk architecture here. At the entrance to the village from Žár there is a large building of the former rectory. the parish in Žumberk is already documented in 1384. The village was already fortified at that time together with the local fortress. Until 1949 the village of Slavče with the branch church of St. Philip and St. James was also part of the parish. It was transferred to the parish of Market Rovinj in that year. From the 1950s the parish ceased to be occupied by a resident spiritual administrator and was attached ex currendo to Trhové Sviny. In the middle of the village square there is a stone God's torment under a large tree. Near the village there is a small settlement Chudějov.

Žumberk is ideal for sightseeing trips both by bike and by car because of the many castles and chateaus. Right in the village there is a Renaissance fortress with an exhibition of folk painted furniture. In the immediate vicinity, the Cuknštejn Fortress, which is part of the Terezino Valley Park, the castle and chateau in Nové Hrady, smaller regional museums, the park of exotic animals.... I recommend visiting the nearby castles in Hluboká nad Vltavou, Třeboň and Český Krumlov.

Among the natural attractions I mention e.g. the Red Mud and the Novohradské hory with its lookout tower.

The Žumberk Fortress offers its visitors a permanent exhibition of folk painted furniture from South Bohemia and the exhibition Fish and People, Rožmberks and Fishmongers in South Bohemia and Waldviertel.

Žumberk u Nové Hradů is located thirty kilometres from České Budějovice in a south-easterly direction. The village of Žumberk (Sonnberg) was founded in the middle of the 13th century. It was held in turn by the abbots of the Rožmberk monastery in Vyšší Brod, the Rožmberks themselves, and especially by several families of the lower Czech nobility. At the end of the 15th century, a sprawling, stone, late Gothic fortress was built in Žumberk, which, with further building modifications in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, took on the appearance of a Renaissance chateau. Jindřich Pouzar of Michnice (a member of one of the families of the Czech lower nobility) stayed here from 1549 to 1600 and the fortress was his main and therefore representative residence. Probably between 1612 and 1615, the new owner of the Žumber estate, Theobald Höck (knighted in 1605), had the fortress and the historic core of the village surrounded by a fortification wall with six bastions. From 1618, however, the nobility no longer resided at Žumberk, and the fortress, bastions and the whole area began to be used for other purposes and gradually fell into an almost desolate state. Extensive monumental reconstruction of the fortress began in 1969 and was completed (together with the restoration of the southern section of the walls) in 1974, when it was also opened to the public. In the 1990s, all five surviving original bastions were gradually reconstructed and the water reservoir in the valley below the fortress was restored. These works were followed by a complete repair of the south-western section of the fortress wall.

Žár is a small village near Nové Hrady. The village is almost entirely rebuilt in the 20th century and even the older houses here resemble rather urban buildings. There is an interesting house with a bell on the roof and one with a facade decorated with pilasters and an interesting gate. The road from Trhové Sviny to Nové Hrady runs through the village. The nearby Žárský Pond used to be part of the composed landscape around the Buquoy Castle in Nové Hrady, the island on the pond was landscaped.

New Farm shop with organic meat in Besednica. Every Wednesday to Friday from 14:00 to 17:00 is looking forward to lovers of quality meat.Besednice, Družstevní 336.

Vykopat si vlastní Vltavín ze skutečné originální vrstvy, kam byl geologickými pochody uložen před 15 miliony let si můžete na zážitkové těžbě v Besednicích  https://www.vltaviny.cz/muzeum/zazitkova-tezba/