Leman's Hill and Viewing Tower in Piaszno

On a hill in Piaszno, in the Tuchomie district south-west of Bytów, stands a wooden viewing tower built not by the local authority but by a local farmer. Leman's Hill rises to 220 m above sea level and the tower is 20 m tall – from the platform you can see Kashubian forests and lakes, the village of Tuchomie and Siemierzycka Góra hill. Beneath the tower a settlement with huts and a palisade has been built, and stone circles and a barrow cemetery were discovered on the property.

History: a tower from a private forest

The idea was born in 1999. Klemens Leman wanted to show his guests the Kashubian landscape from above, so he put up a tower made of cement and timber from his own forest. The hill took its name from its owner, and the tower became one of the main attractions of the Tuchomie district. The owner likes to quote his own calculation: the tower is said to lie halfway between the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Moscow TV transmitter.

What to see

• The viewing platform with a panorama of the area, with Tuchomie and Siemierzycka Góra (256 m) in the foreground; in very clear weather you can even see Chojnice.
• A settlement with huts and a palisade, built by the owner on his land and inspired by the finds.
• Stone circles and barrows near the village. Sources differ: the circles are either linked to the Goths and dated to the 1st–2nd century AD, or the barrows are attributed to the Lusatian culture.
• Open-air events held at the farm, which draw tourists and local residents.

Did you know?

The settlement below the tower is a modern reconstruction, not an original archaeological site. Gothic stone circles are also known elsewhere in Pomerania, for example at Odry and Węsiory. Piaszno itself has an intriguing name history: after 1920 the village ended up on the German side of the border, until 1936 its official name was Pyaschen, and in 1937 the Nazis judged it too Kashubian and replaced it with the invented name Franzwalde. In recent years the village has changed from a farming community into a holiday spot.

Tripto tips

Piaszno lies on the lake of the same name, about 12 km south-west of Bytów. The last stretch of the approach is on a local road – follow the signs. About an hour is enough for the tower and the settlement. As this attraction belongs to a private farm, check before you go that the tower is accessible and that no event is under way. A few kilometres away there is a second viewing tower on Siemierzycka Góra, and the trip combines easily with the Teutonic castle in Bytów.