Country House: 10 Facts You Might Not Know

With the arrival of summer, thoughts about «lying in a hammock under an old cherry tree or shuffling through strawberry beds?» begin right on Monday. To make time fly faster during the wait for the summer country house weekend, we tell you what happens on European rural plots, why you can't register at a country house, and how many summer estates Stalin had.

From the word «to give», Peter I gave us the beard tax, New Year, and country houses. If he had known what a typical embodiment of the rural estate image is – six acres with a hand-made building from plywood, the emperor would have been quite surprised.

After all, originally a country house was a special present for the lords close to the state in the form of land with small estates near St. Petersburg. The word comes from the Russian verb «to give».

Not a Place for Registration

The main difference between a country house and any other rural housing is that it is intended for residence only in warm weather – even if in fact it's warmer at a country house than in an urban apartment. Therefore, a country house cannot be a place of registration or residence.

Still, you can try to register with the help of a skilled lawyer, and only in some rare cases, for example, if the country house owner has no other housing. 

Design: Nasonov DesignWerke

More Than Half of City Dwellers Are Country House Owners

How many country house owners are there in Russia? The data varies. But overall, the percentage of city dwellers who own a country house ranges from 60 to 86%. Although the tradition of country house leisure exists in Europe and America, there is no such large-scale cult of the country house anywhere else in the world as among Russians.

Design: Женя Жданова

The Provider

To partially solve the food issue, Soviet citizens were given rural land plots, the average size of which was six acres (an acre in common speech is 100 square meters). It was assumed that this amount of land was enough to grow the necessary quantity of fruit, berry, and vegetable products to feed a family of four.

Europeans Are Even More Strict

In Europe, the plot sizes are even smaller – on average 3 acres. The dimensions of the cottage and pond, the distance from trees to plot boundaries – all are strictly regulated and cannot exceed the established limits. Any construction work must be approved by the country house association to which the plot belongs. Violation of numerous rules is punished with substantial fines – up to and including expulsion from the association.

Take a look at the country house of Lorenzo Meazza, leading designer and branch director of IKEA in Spain.

Country House in English

In England, plots for gardens and vegetable patches are organized right within the city limits. Authorities simply cannot allocate space in the suburbs or countryside for country house pleasures, as these areas belong to farming enterprises. Another interesting feature is the absence of a high fence that is common in our area. The British prefer to have a low living fence around their plots.

Find out how beautifully and affordably to arrange a country house – tips based on a real example.

A Place for May Festivities

The formula «May Day celebrations = country house + barbecues» causes joyful rumbling, as if all stomachs are pleased. The tradition of celebrating May Day at a country house was started by the Soviet people right after they received their coveted rural land plots.

Design: Артур Ягубянц

Along the Railroad

Modern proximity to railway tracks is more of a minus than a plus: almost everyone already has personal transport, and the romantic sound of wheels only irritates tired people from the noise. However, in the early 20th century, country house settlements were deliberately built near railway lines to quickly reach nature from the dusty city.

The Wealthiest Country House Owner

Choosing the perfect country house is not easy. For example, Stalin owned as many as eighteen rural estates. Among them was the most famous «Near Country House» in Moscow, where the marshal spent his last years. Other estates were located in the Caucasus, Crimea, and Georgia, Stalin's homeland. Some of his properties he never visited.

Stalin's Country House in Abkhazia

Holidays in Prostokvashino

The famous village of Prostokvashino from the Soviet cartoon by Eduard Uspensky is actually a fake, a fictional settlement with invented coordinates. But what's not an idea for naming a country house association? Today, Prostokvashino country house settlements exist in Moscow, Irkutsk, and Leningrad regions.

Design: Женя Жданова

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• What renovation work to do this summer at a country house
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• Old New House: 10 Best Ideas for Country House Renovation