We all love the countryside in the Summer, when it’s warm and green. We take long walks, swim in the local lakes or just lay on the grass and listen to the birds. Usually, at this season our dreams of living a sweet fairy tail away from the city wake up and grow in our hearts. Also usually in the warm seasons we search for the perfect plot and take the final decision of escape from the city. Not everyone thinks on how the countryside is in the Winter. In this short article I will try to put some light into the cold season in the rural.

The Roads

The state of the roads may be a topic worth mentioning at first and to make you aware how important it is when choose the plot. You may buy the most picturesque piece of land and always make sure that you have or may prepare a good access to it. The ground roads which are used by farmers are ok for normal cars in the Summer, may be useless in the wet times or in the snowy ones.

Private road

Make sure that your plot has access to road. It is very important not only for your own comfort of life bit also due to other services, like garbage or sewage, not to mention any emergency. It can be private road or public one. Private means that it can be divided of piece of your own land or shared with your neighbor from their land.

Shared road

If private road is the only option, I strongly recommend to have the proper documents in place allowing you the usage. It should be the permit for usage (zgoda na użytkowanie) signed with the owner of the ground where the road is located. Please do not neglect this formality, even if you are in the best friendship relation with your neighbor. Life is life and I do know the stories, when suddenly after 20 years of living in harmony, situation changed and people where left without any entrance to their plot or the owner demanded horrendous prices for using the road. So please, ensure you have it sorted out when it is still good and nice.

Your own road

Having your own road may sound like a good idea, and in many situations it really is. It is possible when your plot has access to public road. It gives you quite a lot of freedom. You may lead this road on your plot as you like. What is the hidden disadvantage is that you are fully responsible for the road. It means you are in charge to keep it’s good state on your own cost. Building the road is not that exhausting one time task. But what about keeping it in good condition for years – it may be some more effort. Also clearing the snow in the Winter may require special equipment and extra work. So be prepared for it.

Public road

The 3rd option is to have access to the public road. In the villages usually it will be county road (droga gminna). I have to make you aware, that very often in the central maps registry (ewidencja gruntów) there may be an officially divided road next to your plot, but in practice it is a ground road without any hardening. This is exactly what was is my case. My plot is located at the county road but it was just a piece of meadow which was used on only by tractors. On the paper it is 6 m wide and in practice we use only 3 m. It was good to go on when it was dry, but after rain or during snow melting period, it was hardly possible to use any car. It was also a reason for many delays during the construction works. No heavy vehicles could get to my plot when it was wet.

Public Road May Still Be Your Business

There was no other option than to harden the road, which is owned by gmina. So it is not that you just do it on your own without their permit. As you may guess, gmina hardly ever has any budget for such investments as a single house in the castaway to which leads a long public road – designed for the future estate. In every gmina there is a department which is in charge of the roads – you need to go there and negotiate the conditions upon which the access to your plot may be improved.

Sometimes you may offer that you will organize the works. You can hire the digger, do some works on your own, like hiring the compactor and physically drive the whole project. Then gmina may just return the cost of sand and stone or any other materials based on the invoices delivered after the works. I guess any cost return will be more than welcome. It is good to have some projected costs prepared in written before you approach gmina. So it is really like a small project in a corpo. You do know how to do it! Just now, you will use your skills in a different field. Usually in the small gmina there work people who are much more approachable and flexible than in the big cities. So do not give up.

When you got access to the public road, in theory you need not to worry about ensuring it is in good condition. I say in theory, because it all depends on how far from the main road your road is.

The Winter Has Come – Are You Ready?

Let’s come back to the Winter. I guess it is already clear that the snow on the road is one thing to bear in mind. It is ok to expect that the public service will clear the road but as mentioned, it all depends how far is your mansion from the main road. I guess that living in the city, you also see that not all the roads are cleared immediately and at the same time. We always laugh in Poland that the Winter surprised the road services – every year and every time. The truth is that there are categories of roads and they got different priorities in service. It may be that the road next to your house will be cleared later than sooner and this will not match your timing of going somewhere by car. Be prepared for such situations. Maybe leave the car somewhere closer to the main road or arrange your errands in a way that you will not have to go anywhere for a few days. Always make sure you got some extra food in your storage and enough wood for your fireplace. I think it is the main thing when living in the countryside – to have some supplies in stock.

Cottage In The Mountains

The Polish speakers probably know the famous you tube satire about the charming cottage in Karkonosze – about how the guy was demotivated by the snow and fighting against it. It is funny but also real and many people verify their dream of living castaway when put in the extreme conditions. My uncle used to run with his wife an agrotourism in Kotlina Kłodzka. And he recalls the situations when he was clearing the snow till late at night to be able to drive to work in the early morning and just before getting into the car the public service snow plow cleared the main road pushing the snow from the main road on his entrance and making it impossible to get out without repeating the whole work again. It may be a funny story now but I guess it was not for him back then. So you may only prepare yourself as much as possible for such situations or keep the relaxed mindset no matter what happens 🙂

In Poland there is the law that puts in charge the owner of the plot for safety of the area next to the plot. So if you live in the city and own a house, then it is on you to clear the snow and spread the salt with sand so that no pedestrian falls down. Even though the footpath is public. I guess this would be something to worry about in the city but in the countryside you may count on a commonsense and I doubt anyone would sue the owner for breaking the leg on the icy footpath.

Tools – Shovel And Plow

For sure it is good to have proper tools. Snow shovel, maybe even two – in case one breaks is the basic one tool. If you got a tractor – a snow plow would be a good thing to have. It does not have to be a professional one which is quite costly. We made with my Dad a very low cost one. It is attached to the rear of tractor by chain. We made it from 2 wooden beams which were leftovers from the roof construction. They are screwed together under 90 degrees – length of each arm about 1 m. We strengthened the construction with the crossbar. Additionally, we added a shelf on which we put a concrete block to make it heavier and scrub the snow deeper. Such a simple tool allows me to clear the snow of the width approx. 1.5 m which is enough to make a road for a standard car when you go one way and return. See my blog to check how my snow-plow looks.

Of course you may buy also a machine for snow clearing. If I lived in the moutains I probably would do it. But since in Lower Silesia we have very few snowy days in the year, I use the above mentioned tools.

Sand And Salt

Also always keep some sand in case of ice. Road salt is also good to have but it works only down to -5 degrees. I guess when it’s colder it makes not much sense. I don’t recommend spilling the ash from the fireplace or other stove. It will make a horrible mud when the Spring comes and eventually will lead you to ordering more road hardening. Ash quickly turns into soil, so if you are not planning any plants on your road – use sand instead 🙂

Ice Sculpting In Your Car 🙂

I also recommend to clear the snow from the car once it is still fresh and light. It is a really hard work to remove the iced snow from the car body and glasses. Good and simple idea to avoid ice on the car can be covering it with old bed linens. Once we had such and adventure that 2 our cars got stuck in the snow and we had to leave them for the night. Even big tractor was not able to take us out – the ground was so frozen. That night it was snowing with rain with strong wind from the West. The next day when we arrived, it was -17 and full sun, but our cars on the side facing West were covered with 1.5 cm tick ice. We had to get inside from the passenger’s side. We digged them out with shovel, then we used our small tractor with some rocks spill under the wheels and I managed to take out both cars with my tractor. And one of the cars was a big fourgon. So this is how adventurous the life in Winter can be.

The Rural vs. City

I don’t want to scare you off – I just want to give you the real idea, which sometimes may be faraway from the fairy visions of romantic scenes in snow. I want to also bring your attention to the fact that in the city, Winter also can be sometimes unpleasant. The public transport is hardly ever on time, the footpaths are usually very slippery and the snow-mud is everywhere. Bear in mind that even though sometimes you may need to make some more effort to get out from the snow when living in the rural, it makes you much less system dependent than when living in the city, where public service is meant to serve and solve your problems but it does not always do. Taking care of their own needs makes the people much more conscious and responsible for themselves and also their nearest area. I think it is beneficial for one’s self-esteem as well as social well-being.

I hope this little insight into the Winter in the countryside give you an outlook into the reality which is far from the city one, but it definitely empowers people to be independent and self-caring.