Every second city dweller dreams of escaping from their concrete jungle into nature. Escape to nature for a day, two, on vacation, for the summer. Many people would like to buy or build their own house in the forest and live there both in winter and summer. And who doesn't dream of meeting New Year in the forest in winter in a cozy house, in the middle of this white winter fairy tale?
Fairytale house in the forest in winter in the village
But not many would agree to exchange city comfort and convenience for simple village life. We are already accustomed to the fact that the house is always warm. It doesn't need to be heated. Others are doing this. There is always a cold and hot water. And you don’t have to go far when you need it. The potty, that is, the toilet - here it is, next to it.
It's a different matter in the village. To make the house warm you need to try. How much work it costs to chop several woodpiles of wood to light the stove. And to get water you need to go with buckets and a rocker on your shoulders to the nearest well. Well, with empty ones there’s no way to go for a walk. But not many of today’s townspeople will be able to return with full ones, and not spill half of them while going back.
If you need hot water, you must first heat it on the stove. And for this you need to light the stove. And to light the stove, you need to bring firewood. And in order to have something to bring, you need to prepare them first. This is how the thermal chain and water cycle emerge in rural nature.
Separately, it is necessary to say about a small house on the outskirts of a village estate. There is such a special house in every estate. After all, there is no central sewerage system in most villages. So imagine the situation. It's winter, the frost is forty degrees Celsius. And the resident of the fairy-tale house in the forest had an urge to... Something to freeze in the backyard!
Cozy dream house in a winter forest in the city
Fortunately, times are changing. And many villagers are already installing water heaters in their houses. Some villages are supplied with gas and there is no longer a need to prepare such quantities of firewood for the winter. Water supply or individual wells appear and water wells remain only in artists’ paintings and in people’s memories.
Any resident of a forest village with hands can arrange a life and comfort for themselves at the level of urban housing. And there’s nothing to say about a city dweller who dreams of a house in the forest on the edge of the village. And there are more opportunities than a villager.
Go to any hardware store. How many materials and devices have appeared on sale! There are long-burning stoves using wood, coal and other solid fuels. Gas stoves, diesel stoves, electric stoves and whatnot. Pumps, pipes, water heaters - whatever your heart desires.
If you can’t build and erect all this yourself, then there are companies that will build a house with all the amenities on a turnkey basis. Come and live! This is where what comes to the fore is not the comfort and convenience of a village house, but its surroundings, its aura, so to speak.
What advantages will a city dweller have who decides to exchange comfort for exorbitant rural labor? Almost like Vysotsky’s song about climbers (it’s about comfort and exorbitant work). What about the benefits? So here they are:
- Close to nature
- Fresh air
- Silence and leisurely flow of life
- Bathhouse!
Villages were almost always founded near a river or lake. Yes and most of Russia - forest, coniferous or deciduous, or generally virgin or, as they say, black taiga. Therefore, in almost every village there is a forest and a river or stream or lake. As a last resort - a pond with crucian carp. Here the morning fog by the river is like milk. And the murmur of a stream or the rustling of the waves of a river or lake.
And the sound of fluttering leaves under the pressure of a mischievous breeze is not forgotten even after twenty years of living in the city. The one who was awakened at dawn by the tap of a branch on the window will forever remain a soul in the village. Winter sledding downhill, skiing in the snowy forest. How can this be exchanged for a birdhouse in the city?
The air that a person breathes is transparent. Maybe that's why we don't notice it. When it becomes impossible to breathe in the city, when there is smog and stench, then we remember the clean country air. And the air in the countryside, far from the city, is clean and transparent both in winter and summer.
In a house in the forest, especially in winter, or on the outskirts of the forest, time stops. It seems to flow more slowly. There is no rush, there is no trace of the city bustle. Measured, calm, unhurried village life in the silence of the forest. Even the wind in the forest is less noisy and mischievous.
And of course, one of the main advantages of village life is the bathhouse. The bathhouse in the city is not the same! No city bathhouse can compare with a bathhouse in the countryside. Especially if she is on the shore of a pond. Your own bathhouse is a source of pleasure. Enjoying the smell of wood in a hot bath, warmth that warms the body and a broom, birch or any other. The bathhouse is generally a separate world of pleasure.
A fairytale house in the forest, reminiscent of a tower!In the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina (USA), a charming house is located on a slope. From the outside it resembles a real mansion, and inside it is decorated like a fairy-tale home. The house fits perfectly into the surrounding landscape.
The owners, fans of works in the fantasy genre, wanted to live in a house that would be different from modern boring buildings. That is why the new home looks more like a mansion or a castle. As for a 2-story house, its area is relatively small (78 square meters), but inside there is everything you need for a comfortable stay.
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Only natural materials were used for construction: stone and wood. The ground floor has a living room and a kitchen. All furniture is selected in warm colors, which makes the interior very cozy.
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On the second floor there are bedrooms for the owners of the house and their children. In the nursery you can find a stunning bunk bed carved from tree trunks.
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Outside on the terrace there is a barbecue and a Jacuzzi bath. There is probably nothing better than being in warm water with a glass of wine in hand, and enjoy the peaceful view of untouched nature.
It was already starting to get dark. Barely dragging my feet from fatigue and fighting off a myriad of mosquitoes, I climbed to a hill and looked around. In the half-darkness of the passing day, forests and forests were visible everywhere, and only very far ahead from behind the trees something was glimmering blue - either water, or a haze of fog over a forest swamp.
Where should we go?
The area was completely unfamiliar. But the Karelian taiga is no joke. You can walk along it for tens of kilometers without meeting a soul. You can get into such forest swamps that you can’t get out again. And, as luck would have it, this time I didn’t take any food or matches with me and, most importantly, I didn’t take a compass. In the morning I went out to wander a little outside the village in the forest, but I didn’t notice how lost I was.
I scolded myself for being so careless, but what should I do now? Walk through the taiga among windbreaks and terrible swamps, go to no one knows where, or spend the night right in the forest, without fire, without food, in this mosquito hell? No, it is impossible to spend the night here.
“I’ll go as long as I have enough strength,” I decided. – I’ll go where the water or fog is blue. Maybe there’s a lake there and I’ll get out to some housing.”
Having descended from the hill again and trying not to lose the direction I had taken, I went forward.
There was a swampy pine forest all around. My feet sank in a thick layer of moss, as if in deep snow, and constantly bumped into hummocks and the remains of rotten trees. Every minute it became darker and darker. There was a whiff of evening dampness, and there was a stronger smell of wild rosemary and other marsh herbs. The dead taiga night was approaching. The usual sounds of the day were replaced by the mysterious rustles of the night.
I am an old hunter, I have spent the night in the forest more than once, and most importantly, I have a reliable companion with me - a gun. What is there to be afraid of? But, I admit, this time I became more and more creepy. It’s one thing to spend the night by the fire in a familiar forest, but another thing is to spend the night in the remote taiga, without fire, without food... and that nagging feeling that you’re lost.
I walked at random, now stumbling over roots, now again silently stepping on the soft moss cover. It was completely quiet all around. Not a single sound disturbed the peace of the endless forest expanses.
This deathly silence made it even more sad and alarming. It seemed as if someone terrible was hiding in the swampy swamps and was about to jump out of them with a wild, ominous cry.
Alert at the slightest rustle and holding my gun at the ready, I entered the outskirts of the swamp.
Suddenly there was a loud crash of dead wood. I involuntarily raised my gun. Someone big and heavy rushed quickly away from me. You could hear the dry branches breaking under him with a crash.
I took a breath and lowered the gun. Yes, this is an elk, a harmless giant of the taiga forests! Now he is already rushing somewhere far away, you can barely hear him. And again everything falls silent, plunges into silence.
In the darkness, I completely lost the direction I had initially followed. I lost all hope of getting anywhere. He walked with only one thought: at any cost to get out of this gloomy, swampy lowland to some hill, and then lie down under a tree, wrap his head in a mosquito jacket and wait for dawn.
I didn't even want to eat because I was so tired. Just to lie down as quickly as possible, rest, not go anywhere else and not think about anything.
But something gets dark ahead - there must be a forest hill. Gathering the rest of my strength, I climbed onto it and almost screamed with joy. Below, behind the hill, a light shone brightly.
Forgetting about fatigue, I almost ran down the hill and, making my way through the thorny juniper bushes, came out into the clearing.
At the edge of it, under the old pine trees, a small house could be seen - probably a fishing hut or a forester's lodge. And in front of the house a fire burned brightly. As soon as I appeared in the clearing, a tall figure of a man rose from the fire.
I approached the fire:
- Hello! Can I spend the night at your place?
“Of course you can,” answered a tall man in some strange wide-brimmed hat.
He looked at me carefully:
– Are you a hunter, perhaps?
- Yes, a hunter from Zaonezhye. Got a little lost. – I named my village.
- Wow, you have been brought so far! It will be about thirty kilometers from here. Exhausted? Do you want to eat? Now the soup and tea will be ripe. Rest for now.
I thanked him and sank completely exhausted next to the fire.
A lot of pine cones were thrown into it, and their acrid smoke drove away the mosquitoes.
That's when I finally took a deep breath! How beautiful is a fire in the forest when you get to it after long, tedious wanderings... How much warmth and life in these flickering golden lights! ways.
My new acquaintance walked away from the fire and disappeared into the house.
I looked around. The fire made it difficult to see what was beyond the clearing. On one side, right behind the house, the forest was faintly visible, and on the other side, the clearing seemed to end somewhere in the darkness, and from there a light, monotonous splash of waves could be heard. There was probably a lake or river there.
The owner came out of the house, carrying a wooden bowl, spoons and bread.
“Well, let’s have a bite,” he invited, pouring steaming soup from the pot into a bowl.
It seems that I have never in my life eaten such wonderful fish soup or drunk such fragrant tea with raspberries.
“Eat, eat, don’t be shy, we have a growing abyss of these berries in the burnt areas,” the owner told me, pushing a box filled to the top with large ripe berries. “You are very lucky that you wandered here, otherwise you could have gotten lost in these forests.” You're not from here, right?
I said that I came here for the summer from Moscow.
-Are you from here? Is this your house? – I asked him in turn.
– No, I’m from Moscow too. “I’m an artist, my name is Pavel Sergeevich,” my interlocutor introduced himself. “I never thought I’d meet a Muscovite here in the taiga!” – he laughed. – This is not my first year in Karelia, this is my third summer. So, you know, I liked this region, as if I had lived here for a century. I have my own boat in Petrozavodsk. When I arrive from Moscow, I now put all my belongings in the boat and set sail. First along the lake, and then along this bay. It goes straight to Onega. The first time I swam here was by accident. I had a tent with me and lived in it. And then I came across that hut and settled in it.
-What kind of hut is this?
- Who knows! It’s true that there was once a forest guardhouse or a fisherman’s hut. But no one ever comes here. Maybe hunters come in in winter. But in the summer I live here, write sketches and catch fish.
- Aren’t you a hunter? – I asked him.
“No, not a hunter,” answered Pavel Sergeevich. “On the contrary, I try to lure all kinds of living creatures here.” And mind you, the first condition: don’t shoot near this house, otherwise we’ll immediately quarrel.
- What are you talking about, why am I going to shoot here! The forest is large, there is enough space.
- Well, that means we agreed. “Now let’s go to bed,” the owner invited me.
We entered the house. Pavel Sergeevich lit an electric flashlight and directed it into the corner. There I saw wide bunks covered with a mosquito curtain.
We climbed under the canopy, undressed and lay down on a soft bed made of a thick layer of moss, covered with a clean sheet. The pillows were also stuffed with moss. This bed and the entire hut smelled surprisingly good of forest freshness. The window and door were wide open. It was cool under the canopy and there were no mosquito bites at all. With an ominous howl they rushed around us, but they could not reach us, no matter how hard they tried.
“Look at what’s happening,” said Pavel Sergeevich, turning on the flashlight again and pointing it at the canopy.
I looked at the illuminated circle of transparent matter, and I felt terrified: it all seemed alive from the solid mass of mosquitoes clinging to it outside. “Without the canopy, we would have been completely eaten overnight. What a blessing that I came across this forest hut!”
“Well, now let’s listen to what Moscow says, and go to sleep,” said Pavel Sergeevich, taking out a small detector receiver and headphones from the corner of the canopy.
- What, do you have a radio? – I was surprised.
- Why not! There are no newspapers here - you need to know what is going on in the world. And it’s good to listen to good music. Somehow the other day they broadcast Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto. I put the headphones next to me on the pillow and listened all evening. Wonderful! Just imagine: the taiga is all around, the pine trees are rustling, the lake is splashing - and then a violin sings... You know, I’m listening, and it seems to me that it’s not a violin at all, but the wind - the taiga itself is singing... It’s so good - I could listen all night without stopping ! – Pavel Sergeevich took out a cigarette and lit a cigarette. - And on next year I’ll definitely bring a small speaker here, install it on the stream and run electricity into my house. Then you can stay here longer in the fall, until the freeze-up. I will paint the taiga in autumn attire.
Pavel Sergeevich tuned the radio and put the headphones between us on the pillow. I could hear perfectly, but I was so tired that I couldn’t listen to anything anymore. I turned to the wall and fell asleep like the dead.
I woke up because someone was gently shaking my shoulder.
“Stand up quietly,” Pavel Sergeevich whispered. - Look at my guests.
The edge of the canopy was raised and I looked out from behind it.
It's already quite dawn. Through the wide open door a clearing was visible and behind it a narrow forest backwater. A tied boat was rocking close to the shore.
But what is it? On the shore near the boat, as if at home, a family of bears was walking: a female bear and two already grown-up cubs. They picked something from the ground and ate.
I looked at them, afraid to move, afraid to frighten off these sensitive forest animals with a careless movement, who so trustingly approached the very dwelling of a person.
And the bears continued their morning breakfast. Then, apparently having eaten, the cubs began to fuss. They tumbled and wrestled with each other. Suddenly one of the cubs ran to the shore and instantly climbed into the boat. The second one immediately followed suit. The cubs fit into the boat and began to rock it. And the old bear sat down right there on the bank and watched the cubs.
The cubs started fighting in the boat too. They fiddled around until they fell into the water. Snorting and shaking themselves, both jumped out onto the shore and continued their game.
I don’t know how long this extraordinary spectacle lasted - maybe an hour, maybe more. Finally, the bear family retreated back into the forest.
- Well, have you seen my guests? Are you good? – Pavel Sergeevich asked cheerfully.
- Very good. Is this not the first time they have come here?
– No, very often, almost every morning. As soon as I cook the fish soup, I strain off the broth, and leave all the boiled fish for storage. This is a treat for them. The first time the bear came to visit me at the beginning of summer - apparently she smelled the fish. Since then he has been visiting. I lured the cubs into the boat with fish. I started putting them there, and they got into the habit of climbing. And what sketches I made of this bear family! Would you like to take a look?
I happily agreed.
We quickly got dressed and got out from under the canopy.
The house consisted of one room. Under the window there was a cleanly planed table, littered with pieces of canvas, brushes, paints and various fishing equipment. In the corner one could see fishing rods, a spinning rod, and a landing net. In general, you immediately felt that a fisherman and an artist lived in this house.
“Well, here are the fruits of my labors,” Pavel Sergeevich said jokingly, approaching the table and began to show me his work. These were small, unfinished sketches.
Pavel Sergeevich carefully and lovingly took them one by one and placed them against the wall. And the life of the forest inhabitants of the Karelian taiga began to unfold before me. There were bear cubs familiar to me - in a sunny clearing, and a moose cow with a calf wandering through a moss swamp, and a fox family at their hole, and hares, and many different birds - black grouse, wood grouse, hazel grouse... Animals and birds, as if alive, Now, sensitively wary, they looked at me, now they walked peacefully among the green bushes.
And what wonderful corners of nature! Here is a mountain stream rushing among gray granite rocks and suddenly spills into a small reservoir...
“I always catch trout here,” says Pavel Sergeevich. – And this is Lake Onega, when you swim out of the bay. – And he shows a small sketch: water, sun, wooded shores, and near the shore near the reeds - two loons.
How alive and how familiar it all is! It was as if he himself was wandering through the remote taiga, and then got out into the wide expanse of water in Onega.
I reviewed all the sketches. Each of them was good in its own way, and each had something new, something of its own, and most importantly, you could feel the soul of the artist himself, who passionately loved this harsh forest region.
- Very very good! - I said when we reviewed everything. - Lucky you, you don’t have to hunt. All the same, you will take home such trophies that we, hunters, never dream of.
Pavel Sergeevich smiled:
– Yes, a pencil and a brush completely replace a gun for me. And it seems that neither I nor the game are at a loss from this.
We left the house. It was morning. The sun had just risen, and a light night fog floated like a pink cloud over the taiga.
Having lit a fire, we drank tea, and Pavel Sergeevich explained to me in detail the way back to the house.
- Come again! - he said goodbye when I was already climbing the hill.
I turned around. The whole house was clearly visible, and in front of it was a clearing, a bay and then a forest, a forest to the very horizon.
- I'll definitely come! - I answered and went down the hill into the forest.
Summary: In fairy tales, kindness and good deeds almost always triumph over evil. It’s exactly the same in the fairy tale of the brilliant brothers Grimm, in the fairy tale Little House in the Woods. On a sunny, warm and nice day, a woodcutter went out into the forest and told his daughter that she would feed him. When he walked along the road to the forest, he purposefully scattered millet along the road so that it would be much easier for his daughter to find the woodcutter and bring him food. The girl could not find her way to her father, but she wandered into a small old house where an old man lived with animals. The girl began to ask to stay in their house for a while. The eldest daughter cooked food and ate plenty herself, but forgot to feed the poor animals, didn’t even remember about them. When night came, the woodcutter's eldest daughter simply fell under the floor. Exactly the same strange story was repeated in another woodcutter’s barrel. Now it's the turn for the smaller daughter. At first she fed all the animals and the old grandfather, and only after that she ate a little. When the girl woke up in the morning, she didn’t believe what she saw. In front of her stood a handsome, kind young man, who later admitted that all this time he had been under an evil spell, but a caring and kind girl freed him from the evil spell.
Text of the fairy tale Little House in the Forest
A poor woodcutter lived with his wife and three daughters in a small hut near the forest. One morning he went to work, as always, and said to his wife: “Let my eldest daughter bring me breakfast to the forest, otherwise I won’t have time to finish my work by the evening.” And so that she doesn’t get lost, I’ll take a bag of millet with me and sprinkle the grains along the road. And so, when the sun was already high above the forest, the eldest daughter took a pot of soup and went. But sparrows, larks, finches, blackbirds and siskins had long since eaten all the millet, and the girl never found her way. She had to go at random, and she wandered through the forest until nightfall. And when the sun set and the trees rustled in the darkness and the owls hooted, the girl became very scared. And suddenly, through the branches of the trees, she saw a light in the distance. “People live there, and they will probably let me spend the night in their house,” she thought and walked into the light. Soon she saw a house with illuminated windows and knocked. A hoarse voice answered her from the house: “Come in!” The girl entered the dark hallway and knocked on the door of the room. - Come in! – shouted the same voice. She opened the door and saw an old man with gray hair like a harrier. The old man was sitting at the table. He supported his head with both hands, and his snow-white beard lay on the table and went down almost to the floor. And near the stove lay a cockerel, a hen and a motley cow. The girl told the old man about her trouble and asked to spend the night. Then the old man asked the animals: “Beauty chicken, Motley cow, and you, Petenka, my light, what do you say in response?” “Dux,” answered the animals. And this probably meant: “We agree.” “We have a lot of everything here,” the old man said then. - Go to the kitchen and prepare us dinner. Indeed, the girl found a lot of supplies in the kitchen and prepared a delicious dinner. She put a full bowl on the table, sat down next to the old man and began to devour both cheeks. And she didn’t even think about animals! The girl ate her fill and said: “And now I’m very tired and want to sleep.” Where is my bed? But the animals answered her in one voice: You drank with him, you ate with him, You didn’t even look at us, You didn’t want to help us. You will remember this night! “Go upstairs,” said the old man, “there you will see a room with a bed.” The girl went upstairs, found a bed and went to bed. As soon as she fell asleep, an old man came in with a candle. He approached the girl, looked into her face and shook his head. The girl was fast asleep. Then the old man opened a secret passage under her bed, and the bed fell into the basement. And the woodcutter came home late in the evening and began to scold his wife for making him starve all day. “It’s not my fault,” the wife answered: “our eldest daughter brought you breakfast, but apparently she got lost.” He'll probably come in the morning. The next day, the father got up before dawn and ordered that this time the middle daughter bring him breakfast to the forest. “I’ll take a bag of lentils with me,” he said: “they’re larger than millet and easier to spot.” So my daughter won’t get lost. At noon, the second daughter brought breakfast to her father. But she didn’t find a single lentil along the way: again the birds pecked everything off. The girl wandered through the forest until nightfall. Then, like the first sister, she came to the forest house and knocked. And when she came in, she asked for a place to stay for the night and something to eat. The old man with a white beard again asked his animals: “Beauty chicken, Motley cow, and you, Petenka, my light, what do you say in response?” And they answered again: “Dux!” And everything happened the same way as with the older sister. The girl prepared a good dinner, ate and drank with the old man, but didn’t even think about the animals. And when she asked where she should go to sleep, they answered: “You drank with him, you ate with him, You didn’t even look at us, You didn’t want to help us.” You will remember this night! At night, when the girl was fast asleep, the old man came, looked at her, shook his head, and put her in the basement. On the third morning, the woodcutter said to his wife: “Send me breakfast today with our youngest daughter.” She has always been a good and obedient girl, not like her restless sisters. And, of course, he will not wander around the bush like they do, but will immediately find the right path. And the mother really didn’t want to let the girl go. – Do I really have to lose my most beloved daughter? - she said. “Don’t worry,” the husband answered: “she’s such a smart and sensible person, she’ll never go astray.” And besides, this time I will sprinkle peas, and they are larger than lentils, and she will not get lost. And so the youngest daughter, with a basket in her hand, went into the forest. But the wood pigeons had already eaten all the peas, and she did not know where to go. The girl was very worried that her poor father would remain hungry again, and the good mother would grieve for her favorite. When it got completely dark, she saw a light in the forest and came to the forest house. -Can you shelter me for the night? – she asked the old man politely. And the gray-haired old man again turned to his animals: “Beauty chicken, Motley cow, and you, Petenka, my light, what do you say in response?” - Dux! - they said. The girl went to the stove where the animals lay, affectionately stroked the cockerel and hen and scratched the cow between the ears. And when the old man ordered her to prepare dinner and a bowl of delicious soup was already on the table, the girl exclaimed: “How can I eat when the poor animals have nothing!” We must take care of them first, because the yard is full of all sorts of things. She went and brought the cockerel and the hen some barley, and the cow a large armful of fragrant hay. “Eat to your health, my dears,” she said, “and if you want to drink, there will be fresh water for you.” And she brought a full bucket of water. The cockerel and the hen immediately jumped onto the edge of the bucket, lowered their beaks into the water, and lifted them up with a lot - that’s how all birds drink. The motley cow also drank a lot. When the animals had eaten their fill, the girl sat down at the table and ate what the old man had left for her from dinner. Soon the cockerel and hen hid their heads under their wings, and the motley cow dozed off. Then the girl said: “Isn’t it time for us to sleep?” And all the animals answered: “Dux!” You didn’t eat without us, You took care of us, You were kind to everyone, Sleep peacefully until the morning. The girl first prepared the bed for the old man: she fluffed up the feather beds and laid out clean linen. And then she went upstairs, lay down in her bed and fell asleep peacefully. Suddenly at midnight the girl woke up from a terrible noise. The whole house shook and creaked; the door swung open and hit the wall with a crash. The beams were cracking as if someone was breaking them and pulling them apart. It seemed as if the roof was about to collapse and the whole house would collapse. But soon everything became quiet. The girl calmed down and fell into a deep sleep again. And in the morning she was awakened by the bright sun. And as soon as she opened her eyes, she looked - what is it? Instead of a small room there is a huge hall; everything around glitters and sparkles. And she herself lies on a luxurious bed under a red velvet blanket, and under a chair near the bed there are two shoes embroidered with precious stones. At first she thought it was a dream, but then three dressed servants entered the room and asked what she would like to order them. - Go away, go away! - said the girl. “I’ll get up now, feed the cockerel and the hen and the motley cow.” She thought that the old man had woken up long ago, but instead of the old man she saw a completely unfamiliar young man. And he told her: “The evil witch turned me into an old man, and my faithful servants into animals.” And we could free ourselves from her witchcraft only when a girl came to us, kind and affectionate not only with people, but also with animals. This girl is you. And tonight the end of the witch’s power came. And as a reward for your kindness, you will now be the mistress of this house and all its riches. That's how it all happened.