Palaces

Mierzęcin Palace

Amid a park of more than 15 hectares, not far from Dobiegniew and the Drawa National Park, stands the Neo-Gothic residence of the von Waldow family, which after decades as a state farm and six years of devastation became one of the better-known leisure destinations of the Lubusz region.

The von Waldow family

The estate was bought in 1715 by the von Sydow family — the masonry church they funded still stands — and later passed to the von Waldows. The present residence was built in 1861–1863 by Robert Friedrich von Waldow; above the front risalit, between the windows of the second floor, hangs a cartouche with the family coat of arms. In the early 20th century a distillery and farm buildings were added, which survived the war almost untouched.

From children's home to vineyard

After the war the palace was taken over by the State Treasury: until 1952 nuns ran a children's home here, then came a state children's home and a state farm. In 1992 the building was abandoned and for about 6 years fell into ruin. The rescue was its purchase by the NOVOL company on 9 July 1998; after revitalisation in 1999–2001 the palace was ceremoniously opened on 13 September 2002.

Park, wine, spa

Today it is a Wellness & Wine Resort hotel with 85 rooms in the palace and restored farm buildings, the third largest vineyard in Poland with a wine cellar and a stud farm. In the park await a garden parterre with a fountain, terraces sloping towards the Mierzęcka Stream valley, a Japanese garden with a red gazebo, a bridge and a torii gate, as well as the von Waldow family cemetery and monumental beeches, oaks and plane trees. The former distillery houses the Destylarnia restaurant with slow-food cuisine and the Palace Restaurant sits in the palace cellars; the Drawa National Park is less than 14 kilometres away.