An eco farm in this unspoilt valley, just an hour from Llubljana, makes a great base for mountain forest hikes, lake swims and homemade organic feasts
I
wake to the peal of church bells as sunlight streams into my room and go out on to the balcony to look up at Mount Storžič. My base, Senkova Domačija, an organic family-run farm just outside the village of Jezersko, is so picturesque it looks like an AI hallucination: an ancient farmhouse with beautiful wooden outbuildings, cows grazing in small green fields, organic vegetables growing neatly in rows, and a backdrop of some seriously dramatic mountains. The Slovenian capital Ljubljana may be less than an hour away, but here in the Jezersko valley, just 3 miles from the Austrian border, it feels like another world.
Bordered on the east by the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, and on the west by the peaks of the Karavanke mountain range, and with a tranquil green lake at the bottom of the valley, there’s a tangible sense of apartness – an idyllic escape from the world.
Before being confiscated by the communists in 1947, the farm had been in the same family for more than 500 years. It was returned in 2005 and passed down to current owner, Polona, by her grandmother. Today, three generations of her family live here and it’s very much a working farm as well as a place to stay. There’s camping in the meadow under the ash trees in summer (bring your own tent), parking for caravans and a choice of simple rooms and self-catering apartments in the farm buildings. Mine, up in the attic of the ancient farmhouse, has been restored using reclaimed wood. Resident goats, two big dogs, cats and chickens wander free-range, and Jezersko–Solčava sheep graze in the fields – though in summer they are taken up to the alpine pastures.
