Bled holiday home rental, Spodnje Gorje with walking, beach/lake nearby, log fire, balcony/terrace, internet access, telephone, rural

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O'Brien's Lodge (house)

Home description

It’s a perfect place to recharge your batteries with a good book, or to get back in touch with Nature with a long bike ride or hike in the National Park. Appetites have never been sharper in this mountain air, or sleep so deep!

The essentials:
Newly renovated house 3km from Bled
Sleeps 6 in 3 bedrooms PLUS space for one child (2 double bedrooms, one of which also has a child's bed; one twin bedroom).
River and mountain views, on edge of Triglav National Park
The area is popular with outdoor types - hiking, fishing, swimming, skiing, caving, biking and white water rafting are all nearby. Great excursions locally - Vintgar Gorge, Pericnik Waterfall, Radovna Valley.
On the edge of a village that has amenities such as a supemarket, restaurant and bar all within a few minutes walk
15 minutes from Austria, 40 minutes from Italian border resort
Numerous day-trips possible: Soca Valley, Ljubljana, Postojna Caves, Piran, Slovene and Croatian coasts, Tarvisio, Udine, Venice, Zagreb
30 minutes from ski resorts

View of the house	Plenty of parking space
Master bedroom with balcony access	Kitchen with all mod-cons

To see more photos please visit http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/40834

The Gorenjska region

Gorenjska is the north eastern region of Slovenia. It is bordered by the Julian Alps, and partially contains Triglav National Park. It has several medieval market towns of historical note, and in the foothills of the mountains lots of untouched traditional villages. It is one of the best places to see the traditional Slovene hay drying racks and to wander through scenes of pastoral wonder, enjoying the fresh green meadowlands and sparkling lakes and rivers....The Slovene people are down to earth and friendly and the pleasures of a cold Slovene beer drunk in a sunny village square or a cappucino in one of the medeival town centres unique. There really is something different to experience every day.

Bled / Spodnje Gorje area

The house is on the edge of a village called Spodnje Gorje. A small supermarket is less than 10 minutes' walk and stocks everything you need. The bar and restaurant at the top of our hill - Gostilna Fortuna - has recently become a favourite for both locals and foreigners. It serves spit-roasted hog and chicken almost every day in summer and has great outdoor seating with fine views and a varied menu. A few minutes further is Gostilna Vintgar - by the entrance to the famous gorge - which is a classic Alpine hut, again, serving a varied menu. Both places serve the famous local trout caught from the river you can see from the house.

Our favouorite things to do:

1. Bled: Everyone should hire a rowing boat and take themselves over to the island, although you can of course pay someone to take you instead. The water is warm enough (27°C in summer) for swimming several months of the year and a couple of beaches are easily accessible from the house. If you’re lucky, it freezes over completely in the winter. Bled has lots of good restaurants and one or two late night bars. Pub Bled is a popular spot in the evenings for drinking Laško beer and dancing

2. Vintgar Gorge: peaceful walk near the house along a gorge to a waterfall, with wooden bridges passing over white water and rock pools. Walk for 15 minutes from the house and you're there. There's a good restaurant there too.

3. Radovna Valley: a 12km road along the valley floor begins at the end of Zgornje Gorje, larger sister village to Spodnje Gorje, and leads you to the centre of Triglav National Park. There are lots of walking trails that can either start off your hike to Triglav or provide more modest hikes, as the Radovna Valley gives access to Kot, Krma and Vrata Valleys.

3. The Pericnik Waterfall near Kranskja Gora - 30 minutes from the house. You can walk behind this 52 metre glacier formed waterfall, a remnant of the Ice Age.

4. Radovljica: pretty medieval town a couple of miles from Bled. The bee-keeping museum is worth a visit – we’ve been twice as the content is so unexpectedly interesting! You can see how bee-keeping has changed with the ages in Slovenia, and see local folk-art with the painted bee hive panel display

5. Bohinj: driving to the Vogel ski resort cable car gives you an idea of the sheer size of this lake. You can hike to a waterfall at one end of the lake, or go canoeing. A local stable takes you to the shores of the lake on horseback

6. Soca Valley: you’ll be stunned by how blue the water is (it’s the limestone). This is where the main white water rafting outfits are. There’s a great war museum in Kobarid (also known as Caporetto, where Hemmingway wrote a Farewell to Arms)

7. Ljubljana: we love Sundays at the bustling antique market on the river, with bargain hunting followed by pivo in one of the waterfront cafes. You can take the train to LJ from Bled, spend the evening bar-hopping and clubbing, and take a taxi back to Spodnje Gorje for around 90 euros.

8. Austria: the lake resorts of Carinthia attract a respectable, sedate crowd. Nice for watching the yachts and eating schnitzel in the sun. Klagenfurt and Villach are pretty, bustling towns with good shopping, restaurants and bars - and great traditional Christmas markets in winter.

8. Tarvisio: Nearest Italian town and nice for shopping and eating.

O’Brien Lodge is well stocked with maps and guidebooks for your perusal – ideal for planning sight-seeing trips and walks around the local valley, including Triglav National Park.

We can also put you in touch with activity and adventure trip leaders locally - scuba diving, climbing, paragliding, mountain biking, cycling, horse riding and white water rafting are all possible.

How to get there

Bled is very accessible and is easy to reach by car from north east Italy, southern Austria and northern Croatia. You can reach it from a number of airports that have connections to all over Europe, including with budget airlines, and it’s easy to get to by train from a number of major cities.

The house is 30 minutes from Ljubljana airport (Easyjet, Adria), 40 minutes from Klagenfurt (Ryanair), 1.5-2 hours from Trieste (Ryanair), 2.5-3 hours from Graz (Ryanair), 2.5-3 hours from Venice (Easyjet, BA) and 3-3.5 hours from Salzburg (Ryanair). The closest airport is Brnik Airport, Slovenia: served by Adria Airways and EasyJet. The second closest airport is Klagenfurt, Austria: served by Ryanair and a 40-60 minute drive from Bled.

If you intend to do sightseeing, you will get the most out of your stay if you have a rental car. Bled is a ten minute drive from the house and taxis very late at night are hard to come by unless you pre-book them. There are taxis in Spodnje Gorje and Bled that will be happy to take you around if you give them a little advance warning.

Activities near Bled

Facilities

Further details indoors:
What you get...

The living room is a large seating and dining area, with a traditional tile stove for additional winter warmth. It’s a great place to eat, play cards or watch the river from the windows.

In the living room, a large plasma screen, DVD and video, and over 300 TV channels mean you can easily unwind and while away a couple of hours with a film. There is a selection of DVDs for different tastes.

The kitchen is well stocked with utensils and has a dishwasher, washing machine with dryer and cooker. A large wooden table with benches provides a more informal sitting area where you can drink your morning coffee, plan the day’s excursions or just gaze at the river views outside.

There are two fully stocked bookcases with maps and guidebooks to inspire your activity planning, children's books and plenty of novels. All three bedrooms have river views and river sound-effects. There are wooden floors throughout and beautiful antique furniture. We've installed a safety gate for children at the top of the stairs. Families with young children should bear in mind that it is not ideal to leave children unsupervised in the garden, as the driveway slopes down to the village road.

We have WiFi throughout the house so staying connected is not a problem.

Further details outdoors:
The house has its own driveway which has parking for three cars, and two balconies for you to enjoy the fresh air and the views.

We recently completed a long renovation project on the house. When we first saw it, it had never been modernised and was dark, cold and crowded. The views and the setting convinced us to take it on. Standing outside at night, seeing the stars and listening to the sound of the river - we had faith that with time and effort it could be transformed into something special. Over a three year period, a local builder completely overhauled the house. He created new windows to let in more light, knocked down walls to expand the living space, and built pine cladding on the exterior of the house to insulate it and make it blend into its natural valley setting.

We’ve had a great time furnishing it by numerous trips to the Ljubljana antiques market and the bazaars of Sarajevo. More prosaically, we’ve also kitted it out with the IKEA essentials and all mod-cons in the kitchens and bathrooms, including under-floor heating in the bathrooms for extra coziness.

Further details

Additional child's bed in one of the bedrooms means the property can sleep a maximum of 6 adults plus one child, at no additional charge.

Rental rates

Prices for group size 6
Period	From	To	Weekly	Nightly rate		Minimum  stay
				Weekday	Weekend
Year round	6 Nov 09	1 Oct 10	630£ 630	9090	9090	4 Nights

Prices for group size 4
Period	From	To	Weekly	Nightly rate		Minimum  stay
				Weekday	Weekend
Year round	6 Nov 09	1 Oct 10	490£ 490	7070	7070	4 Nights

Prices for group size 2
Period	From	To	Weekly	Nightly rate		Minimum  stay
				Weekday	Weekend
Year round	6 Nov 09	1 Oct 10	315£ 315	4545	4545	4 Nights

The property's weekend rates apply to: Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights

NB: Prices may be subject to change at the advertiser's discretion.

There is a refundable booking deposit of £200 which will be returned within two weeks of leaving the property, providing there are no damages and the property is left in reasonable order. Cleaning and linen charges are included in the rental fee.

The rental fee is payable by bank transfer within four weeks of arrival.

Each booking party must pay tourist tax at €1.01 per adult per night and 51c per night for children from 7 to 17. Children under 7 are free. This is Slovene law. Tourist tax for your stay will be added to your rental fee.

Guestbook for O'Brien's Lodge

"Flippin' marvellous! Had a wonderful time at the house - slept like a baby in my super comfy bed with nothing but the sound of the babbling brook outside to disturb my slumber, ate like a queen in the fantastic kitchen and blissfully drowned myself under the luscious cascade of the shower."

"House was excellent, swimming in the lake was fab. Canonying and rafting was great."

Availability

See below for next 9 months' availability - to see the next 24 months click here

Send Enquiry

To contact this advertiser please visit: http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/40834

Contact details for the advertiser of home 40834
Name:	Lucy O'Brien
Mobile:	+44 (0)7971 425076
Be aware of time-zones Please mention Holiday Lettings when contacting this advertiser
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Contact Notes: By mobile telephone, at any time of day
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Advertiser joined: Nov 2007