Hi everybody!
Today I want to tell you about a walk in the park at the Shchelykovo estate.
This estate is located in the Kostroma region and in the 19th century it belonged to the Ostrovsky family, a prominent representative of which was the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky.
(Entrance towers photographed through the glass of a car)
This estate was bought by the playwright's father, and after the death of Ostrovsky Sr. Shchelykovo was inherited by the writer's stepmother. She could not cope with the household, the estate fell into decay, and Emilia (that was the name of the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky's stepmother) decided to sell it.
Since Alexander was in love with these places and did not want to part with the estate, he, along with his younger brother Mikhail, bought Shchelykovo from his stepmother. This pleasure cost the Ostrovsky brothers 7357 rubles 50 kopecks.
Since then, Ostrovsky began to live in Shchelykovo for 4-5 months a year, and these months were very fruitful in terms of creativity.
I walked around the estate with a tour group. First, we were led through the manor park, and then we examined the Ostrovskys' house.
But the tour began from the Blue House.
This Art Nouveau house was built after Ostrovsky's death by his daughter, Maria Chatelain. There is no museum exhibition in the Blue House. There is a local library, staff offices, rooms for activities with children. In winter, the Blue House turns into the residence of the Snow Maiden.
(In one of the rooms of the Blue House)
Then we went to the Lower Park.
During a walk in the park, we were told about the history of the estate and the way of life in it. They showed artificial ponds and a two-story gazebo.
Under Alexander Ostrovsky, the estate had three ponds. But over time, one was washed away by a local river, the second became very small and uninteresting, but the third pond is very pretty, although heavily overgrown:
I saw a similar pond, with an island in the middle, in Pushkin's estate in Mikhailovsky:
There is a spring near the pond. The guide said that this water can be drunk, but I preferred to drink water from a bottle:
Pond dweller:
Double deck gazebo. I saw this for the first time, how about you?
There is also an ordinary gazebo in the park:
And a bench to rest in the shade of trees:
The park has many wooden bridges and shady alleys...
...but hordes of horseflies do not allow you to safely walk around the estate, so the walk turned out to be shorter than we would like. Very soon we were taken to the Ostrovskys' house:
But that's a completely different story.
Thank you for your attention and support!