Shepherd's Hut in Koniaków

In the hamlet of Szańce in Koniaków, the Kohut family runs a Shepherding Centre: a wooden shepherd's hut, known locally as the "kolyba", a highlander shop and an educational farm with sheep and goats. The farm practises traditional grazing of about 1,000 sheep on the mountain pastures of the Silesian and Żywiec Beskids, and their milk becomes oscypek, bundz, bryndza and other farmhouse cheeses. Admission is free, and Szańce offers views of Ochodzita, Tyniok, Barania Góra and the Polish-Czech-Slovak border area.

History: shepherding returns to the pastures

High-mountain grazing on Hala Barania (about 1,050 m) and Hala Magurka was revived in 2008 by head shepherd Piotr Kohut, after decades without sheep. The flock moves between several pastures, including Podgrapy, Hala Barania, Magurka and Ochodzita. The sheep are milked by hand in a pen twice a day – from 4:00 to 6:30 and from 16:00 to 18:30 – by six people, helped by a shepherd who drives the flock.

Since 14 February 2008 oscypek has carried the EU Protected Designation of Origin, and Piotr Kohut was one of the first people to be certified. The cheese is made during the grazing season, May to September, and sold until the end of October. One oscypek needs about 7 litres of milk, and the finished cheese weighs 0.6–0.8 kg.

What to see and taste

• The shepherd's hut (kolyba) – oscypek, bundz, bryndza, redykołka and farmhouse cheeses, plus lamb and mutton.
• The educational farm – sheep and goats you can feed with the grass or hay prepared in the troughs.
• The shepherding exhibition upstairs – ladles, churns, wooden cheese moulds, cauldrons and other tools, plus photographs of life on the pastures.
• The highlander shop – sheep's wool products, local handicrafts, souvenirs and highlander costumes.

Tripto tips

The centre is open daily: from April to September 9:00–18:00, from October to March 9:00–17:00. Outside the grazing season the farm's cheeses are sold in the highlander shop, and the hut can only be visited. There is free parking, toilets and, in summer, a playground. Groups (20–50 people) can book paid talks with tastings, bundz-making demonstrations and wool workshops – contact: Koniaków 33, tel. +48 602 128 388. Nearby, visit the Lace Museum – Maria Gwarek Memorial Room and the Chata na Szańcach gallery.