When my great-grandfather, Eng. Jiří Havelka, bought the estate in Obříství in 1925, he could not have guessed how many troubles he buys for such huge amount of first republic crowns together with the Chateau and two hundred hectares of forests and the farmhouse with one hundred and forty-five hectares of land. We probably inherit the risk in our family. At that time, he also took a loan to buy, which he repaid with a good idea: he started to grow cumin ... He could not even guess that we would buy the family property several more times ...

 

After a difficult period of war there came another cruel times. He and his son, my grandfather Libor, who had already managed the farm with my grandmother Marie, was resisting a pressure to nationalize the estate. In 1948, they ran out of power to fight against the communist power. The great-grandfather Jiří (George) was even supposed to be publicly hanged in the courtyard, and only thanks to the brave employees and the people from the village who remembered how he had been helping them during the war it did not happened. But he ended up in custody with the only condition of release: immediate eviction from the chateau.

He and his son Libor, who decided to emigrate, never returned to the places that he owned and where he put his money, his toil and his heart. But he had to walk with Marie and without their two small children - Igor and Lenka in the snowdrifts across the border. At that moment he did not believe they would never meet again ...

 

In the meantime, communists made a state farm from the nationalized estate. The great-grandfather Jiří after his release from the custody moved together with his grandmother to his sister in Libiš and lived there until their death. Libor and Marie found their new home first in Belgium and then in Australia, where they desperately tried to bring their children. Despite all their efforts, they never succeeded. And a return would be a dungeon. Igor and Lenka grew up with Marie´s mother and bravely faced the consequences of class origin and parents in emigration. Just one year before the Velvet Revolution, my grandfather Libor died in Australia and grandmother Marie never wanted to go to the Czech Republic again. She succumbed to fear, disappointment and age.

A part of the property was returned to my father Igor in the restitution and it was the part that belonged to my grandfather Libor. We had to buy again the second half after my grandmother Marie, but after 20 years of court scrambles. 

 

It has been running for almost a century since my great-grandfather borrowed money for the estate and began to grow cumin. I also borrowed money for the purchase of the second half of his homestead and I wish the only thing: that people would feel happy there again. This is one of the reasons why the guest-house (pension) “ Na Kmíně ” has been established - a romantic place that connects and in which we have sowed the experience and love.

 

And we will also sow cumin soon ;-) 

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