Vejminek: a log cabin in Bohemian Switzerland I love coming back to

There are places you visit once and tick off. And then there are places you like coming back to. For me Vejminek in Dolní Chřibská is the second kind: a log cabin from 1843 at the end of the village, with a meadow behind it, a pasture with cows and a forest full of mushrooms.

Why Vejminek?

Because it is a cottage where you feel at home, and you can tell in every detail.

Karel and Klára bought Vejminek a few years ago after a long search, and they do all the renovations very sensitively. The log-built ground floor with white pointing stayed, the plank-built upper floor too, and the stairs creak the way they should. The house is from 1843, so what you hear when you go for a glass of water at night matches that.

I admit that what won me over was above all the location and the quiet. The cabin stands at the end of the village, above it there is a slope with heather (Klárka's pride) and then only meadow and forest. You sit down on the bench, look at the forest and do not worry about anything. That is exactly what I am after.

What does Vejminek look like inside?

The heart of the cabin is the large main room on the ground floor, where the kitchen, the long table and the sofa are all in one space. You sleep on the floors above.

• Ground floor: main room with a kitchen, and a toilet with a shower cubicle.
• 1st floor: bedroom for 4 people (a double bed and two single beds) and a bathroom with a bath.
• 2nd floor: bedroom for 5 people (two double beds and a single bed) and a bathroom with a shower.

The kitchen is equipped so that you can really get by just bringing food. A fridge, dishwasher, oven, induction hob, microwave, Nespresso with capsules, and basic ingredients such as salt, spices and teas. There is supposedly even a strainer for dumplings, though I did not test that one. 🤣

The bedroom also has a screen with a projector, so when it rains all day outside, your evening is sorted. And the bathroom cosmetics are from Nobilis Tilia, which is based not far from here in Vlčí Hora near Krásná Lípa. They have a visitor centre there with an herbal tea room and a freely accessible organic garden, so you can even drop by for a tour. A small detail, but details like this are what decide things.

Where to pick mushrooms around Dolní Chřibská?

In the forests right above the cabin. Dolní Chřibská is one of the best mushroom-picking places I know in Czechia, because it rains regularly here and the forest is mixed.

This is something you will not appreciate at Vejminek until you take a basket and set off. The baskets are right in the cabin, so you do not need to bring anything. I set off in the morning after breakfast, and within two hours I had a full basket of boletes, babky (bay boletes) and křemenáče (summer ceps).

The climate in the Šluknov Hook and in the Lusatian Mountains is damper than in the rest of Bohemia, so mushrooms grow here even at times when elsewhere there is nothing. You will find bedly (parasol mushrooms) right on the meadows around the cabin, and boletes and babky in the forests above the village.

What can you see right behind the cabin?

A pasture with a Hereford herd, meadows and forest. Behind the cabin the village practically ends and nature begins.

A little way above the cabin there is an enclosure with a herd of Herefords. You can hear them in the morning and the evening, and at sunset it is one of those scenes that make people travel to the north of Bohemia. The bull in the enclosure is calm, but he deserves respect.

The Hereford is one of the oldest, hardiest and most widespread beef cattle breeds in the world. You can recognise it at first sight by its white head and the white stripe along the back and chest, while the rest of the body is brick red-brown. The breed is resistant to weather and happy outdoors on pasture all year round, which is exactly what suits the harsher climate of the Šluknov Hook.

What to see around Vejminek?

Vejminek lies right on the border of the Bohemian Switzerland National Park and the Lusatian Mountains Protected Landscape Area, so you have both within reach: sandstone rocks and volcanic hills.

If you need a proper coffee, go to Bohemian Coffee House in Rumburk. Specialty coffee and desserts of a high standard, which is not a given in the north of Bohemia.

Where to eat nearby?

A short walk across the fields behind the cabin takes you to Na Stodolci, which is the best choice in the area.

It is a farmstead from 1881 converted into a restaurant, which has its own amber beer, Stodolecký Lišák. The palačinky (Czech pancakes) are famous here, but classic Czech cooking and that beer suited me best. An 11° (a standard-strength Czech lager), honestly amber, in the garden on a sunny afternoon, exactly what it should be.

In Chřibská itself there is a café on the square, a bakery, two grocery shops and a tourist information centre. By car it is a minute, on foot about twenty. For a big shop you go to Česká Kamenice, where there is a Lidl, about 15 minutes by car.

Practical info and transport

• Address: Dolní Chřibská 261, 407 44 Chřibská. GPS 50.86276N, 14.45265E.
• From Prague by car: roughly 2 hours.
• Parking: three spaces right by the cabin, free.
• Check-in: from 16:00, contactless via a key box. You get the code on the day of arrival. Check-out at 11:00.
• Dogs: welcome, but let them know in advance.
• When to go: August to October for mushrooms, May to October for hiking, and in winter skiing and cross-country skiing on Jedlová.
• Wi-Fi: yes, so Vejminek also works as a place for working from home or a small team-building event.

You can find photos from Vejminek on my Instagram too: summer post and winter post.

The neighbouring Chatk_A, from the same people, has its own separate article.

What does Vejminek look like in winter? I wrote about it in a separate article.