Small oziera. Sołtys invites you to live in empty houses, offers a lease of plots

“Calm and exotic in one … It is worth being here and without a vehicle to enjoy the idyllic of grandparents and great grandparents …”. Or “at the end of civilization and the EU and NATO. The village of happy people. Experience it yourself …”. Leszek Skrodzki, the village administrator Ozieran Małe in the Sokólski poviat, encourages to visit this charming village just off the border with Belarus.

In one of the latest posts he writes that the village is waiting for settlers. And in an interview with the Białystok University of Technology station – Akadera Radio – he even declares that he can lend his plots for those willing, and even collect from the PKP station in Białystok and take it.

– In the 1960s there were almost 40 houses here, in which 200 people lived, now three people live permanently. There are eight empty houses, six of which – after the necessary renovations – are suitable for residence. You should only contact the heirs, in which I can gladly mediate and live here. I think that lease or buying such a house would not be any big costs. And if the heirs are not found, there is such a thing as prescription – the village leader tells us.

To get there, we have to drive through the bridge on the Nietupa, which looks like you could only walk around it. Before we get there by car, we get off to make sure it is safe. We get into the car when we see traces of tires that a truck had to leave.

– Nietupa is a tributary of Świsłocze. And this bridge called the bridge-gwidmo, because although the inhabitants have been using it for 53 years, it has not been on any maps-smiles the village head.

At the board with the name of the place and in the yard of Mr. Leszek you can admire the sculptures he made and a series – attached to the fence – artifacts. There are even old rakes, clocks or a mailbox. There is also a “cheat sheet”, which lists the most interesting attractions of these areas, including A mosque in Kruszyniany, a wooden mill in Białogorce or Silvarium – a forest garden in Poczopek. Skrodzki is the village head of three towns (in addition to Oziejan Małe, also Ozijen Wielkie and the village of Białogorce). This is his first term. As he says, he wants to do everything so that the area is teeming with life again.

– These three residents of Ozierans Small are two brothers – farmers and a sick musician from bands that played at all nearby weddings and festivals. I come from time to time and lead with my wife agritourism. This is a house after in -laws. My wife is the last child who was born in Oziejany Małe. May it not end there – he blinks and says that a hill of love is located near the village.

Also called Wołkowa Hill. From Wiktor Wołków – a famous artist who died in 2012, a photographer specializing in a photography of a landscape, which could be found here with a camera. From the hill there is a beautiful panorama of the surrounding areas. With a view also on – as the village administrator speaks with a snack – a dam on the border with Belarus.

– I think that someone seeking a respite from the hustle and bustle could live here and who works remotely. We have fiber optic internet in the village, so there is no problem with it. And when it comes to work on the spot, in spring companies that deal with planting forests are looking for people. You can also collect herbs and mushrooms in the area. I offer work in the season at the harvest of Jerusalem artichoke, i.e. very tasty tubers, which in our part of the world were replaced by potatoes. For me, for a solid work, everyone would earn up to PLN 300-400 a day-says Skrodzki.

He also offers, as in an interview with Akadera Radio, lease his plots.

– The fee would be symbolic – about PLN 100 per month for 1000 square meters. Everyone could put the house. If not on my plots, then there is no shortage of here. As Mirosław Sobański did – a poet from Bydgoszcz, who said that when 10 years ago he came here for the first time he felt a huge creative wen. He wrote a poem on the first day. So far, over a thousand poems have been created here. The poet bought a plot and built a small house. He lives in Bydgoszcz every day. Like me, he comes here from time to time – says the village head.

He says that Ozierany Small is a film village.

– There were five films shot here. One of them is the “long road” from 1975, in which local residents also performed. The idea was to create a film that would unite all countries of folk democracy. And this was supposed to happen through the story of serfdom – smiles the village head.

Subsequent films talked about the prophet of Ilya and Tsar Mikołaj II. – And when it comes to recent years, there was a shot movie “Black Lady”, in which I played a senior state police leader and the series “Kruk. Whispers can be heard after dark “and” Kruk. Spelling Woron does not sleep. “In the series you can see my sculptures – says Leszek Skrodzki.

It is also a treasury of stories about local legends.

– We have over a 20-hectare reservoir where you can bathe and where fish are. Apparently, Łoboda's dragon lives in it. As the municipal news carries, in the 17th century the Tatars went with the staroste from Knyszyn to capture the monster. Everyone died except one tartare, who told about everything, to which the listeners answered “Łoboda”, or “Oh God” – says the village administrator.

See also: We know him from the “Teutonic Knights” and the picture of Jan Matejko. They play locks from the time of Prince Witold in 3D

There is also a prank of the devil Wyrdas and – who has been living in the village for a long time – a malicious elf, which is called Awąj.

– By the way, it's probably the only word in Polish starting with “ą”. Anyway, he lurks on all kinds of “drunkards”. When such a delinquent falls on the road, the elf sits down on his “chest” and inhale alcohol fumes. When the consuming drinks wakes up in the morning, he says that his head hurts, he hurts in the chest, all through the auntia. The aforementioned poet Mirosław Sobański appointed $ 1,000 awards for someone who manages to capture this unruly elf. It is only known that he lives in old trees – our interlocutor smiles and the more encourages to come to Oziejów Małe.