Reset search
The Vanyi Caravan 2021
  • Notes from Hungary
  • Notes from Hungary

The Vanyi Caravan 2021

A 365-day adventure by Notes from Hungary Read more
FollowInsightsInsightsCalendarCalendarPhotosPhotosShareShareBucket list
InsightsCalendarPhotos
  • Trip start
    January 1, 2021
    Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Lentils and blue chanmapgne

    January 1, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    Some things never change- lentils at Mama's on New year's Day, and a compulsory picture of them messaged to Sonia, wherever she is! This year we arrived directly from GYUB, after wrapping up almost ten days ( with a break for Christmas) in our new countryside home as school and work restart in a few days time. But even with us coming from afar we beat Dóri and co to the lentils and blue champagne ( kids champagne with a gimmick of leaving the kids tounges blue- anti- freeze liquid rebottled?). Happy new year!Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary
    The Csopak kitchen now,but with less stuff.

    The grand tour

    January 8, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ 🌧 2 °C

    This weekend was the grand tour of countryside properties, while the girls enjoyed a parent-free weekend at Éva-mama.
    We started off at Győrújbarát to meet the team of architects and builders who will hopefully help us build the attick bedrooms in our new house. It just started snowing when we were on our way down there, so we arrived to see our thatched roof home to be in full winter fairytale glory. What a treat!
    Then down to Csopak, which needed to be decluttered ( yippee- my favourite task!) and prepared for the mini renovation later this winter. Then back again to Győrújbarát to drop off the stuff we found in Csopak that could be useful at our new home. So many houses,so little time ...    Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    A quick pop down to the freezing blue

    February 13, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ -4 °C

    Popped in to see the house in Csopak- Attila finished some minor renovations a few weeks ago, and it seemed like a perfect excuse to go down and see the results. The house is looking better and better, and the window man promised that the new front glass door will be in place sometime in April. A walk in the freezing sunshine on the lake was a nice finish before we headed back up to Budapest.Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary
    1Snowdrops
    Grape cuttingsThe medlar - new and improvedThis is how we mudWe are off into the woodsRoses ready for the new season

    More than the daily recommended dose

    February 20, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    This weekend, like many others down in Gyub, we went beyond the minimum daily recommended dose of fresh air. Breakfast and fooling around done by 10 am, we were all out till dark ( ok, with as short break for lunch) , on both days of the weekend. The weather isn't even that great yet, hovering just above 10 degrees with an ocassional ray of sun here and there, and we all have things to do. Gergő is his mancave feeding the fire and working the wood, me in the garden preparing for the Grand Plating Season, girls climbing trees, designing walnut harvesting strategies, monitoring the early spring flowers ( snowdrops out, tulips on their way) and generally getting as muddy as possible. The girls even ventured out to visit Viola and Julcsi on the other side of the woods- a 15 minute walk through the forest all by themselves. And finally, a list of achievements of the weekend in the garden: roses pruned, one medlar and one apple tree pruned, twenty grapes cuttings taken and planted, mushroom farming patch cleared and marked, sunny herbal garden marked. To be continued the next weekend.Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    More is better than less

    February 26, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    More sunshine, more flowers, more outdoors and gardening time, more woodwork, more fairy clothes, more Gyub-time again this weekend!

    Pruned out overgrown quinces, planted red currants, mint and even a pomegranate tree. The nursery is sceptical about it fruiting here in Hungary but the tree is of fruiting variety, and I have seen pomegranate fruits growing in Hungary before, so I am hoping for the best!Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Get away and stay out

    March 13, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    The third wave of Covid forced the government to shut everything down again- schools and kindergartens closed for a month till after Easter, all non essential shops shut for two weeks at least, and everything else pretty much cancelled. With Nóra's classes moving online again ( rather smoothly and professionally!) and Novoschool embracing the home office concept, we headed down to Gyub as soon as we could. With at least 10 days of planned stay, the to do list is long and wide. So far accomplished:
    Heated with timber cut and chopped from our own forest (Gergő), planted early herbs and fruit bushes , pruned hawthorn tree and rosehips shrubs, planted oyster mushrooms (Kat), created earthworm farm (Emma), read 150 pages in one day (Nóra), built a new, second compost bin ( Nóra and Emma) , went on an off-road motorbike trip ( Gergő & Gábor), climbed every tree in sight ( Gato). Not bad fir just two days. More to come.    Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    A day in the countryside

    March 15, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Tanya, Edmund , Lea and Maja popped in for their first visit in the countryside- while the girls ganged up in the cold sun, we had pizzas and wine and toured " the grounds", where the sour cherry and apricot trees beat the rest to the first bloom! In the afternoon Gergő finished the pedestrian stairs - and Gato gave his seal of approval after a thorough test.Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    What to do

    March 25, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    To Emma's dismay, we have lost Nóra to the world of reading. From early morning when she wakes up, till late at night (caught reading with a tent light under the blanket), and during most of the time in between, she'd rather read. What is a younger sibling to do in such a horrid case? Play with slime. Or learn to read herself.Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Looking for tenants

    March 28, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Last week we received a huge box sent by Bálnt papa and Rita, containing three fantastic birdhouses, and three books on Hungarian wild birds, their habitats, and lots of advice on attracting them to our new garden. Not surprisingly, it's our second day back to Gyub, and we have already put up the birdhouses on carefully selected trees. (Close enough for us to see, far enough for the birds to have privacy, safe enough from Gato the Birdhunting Cat...). Following the book's advice, we also wrapped ultra-thorny rose branches around the tee trunks to redirect Gato to other trees. Now the book says to be patient, and that sometimes it takes years for birds to notice a birdhouse and move in, but we are hopeful and open for business. Hopefully will be able to report on the news soon?Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Pizza for all!

    April 4, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Easter holidays- a perfect excuse to have nature-craving friends from urban Budapest over.

    Monday- Dash and Ákos with Vincent (went to the same nursery with Nóra), Gréta (Emma's friend from the kindergarten, and Ngnayo- their little sister). Contrary to all expectations Nóra and Vincent exchanged more than just two polite words, played chess, roamed the garden and forest, while Gréta and Emma were fighting off the "annoying younger sister". Pizza and sunshine for all made it all even merrier, and Gergő even managed to "pop down to Budapest" and get his Astra-Zeneca Covid vaccine, doze 1.

    Tuesdyay- Betti and András, with Szonja (Nóra's classmate) and Fülöp (older) and Otto (younger). The latter two combined are a force to avoid, even more than just Otto alone (who would have thought that possible...). Pizza for all, but unfortunately, with less sunshine and more wind, but to keep Otto at bay, the elements had to be , and were, faced bravely.    Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Just the three of us in the dark

    April 8, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    As Gergő left on a three-day motorbike trip with Zoli, we, the girls, stayed in Gyub, for the first time on our own. We gardened, planted raspberries, played,
    slept, and even had Szonja over for a quick visit (while her brothers visited a doctor in Győr). The wood heating is a man's job, some may say, but we don't- everything was under control. Even venturing out in the dark to check the gates and shutters proved like a piece of cake, so now we know that we can do it :)Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    More and more...

    April 9, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    flowers are emerging from all nooks in the garden in GYUB- as this is our first spring here, every new flower or plant that pops up is a surprise. And as it seems that I slept through all my biology classes, the guessing game of what each new bud could be, carries on...Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    People at work

    April 14, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    As the Covid situation continues, and sometimes both of us need to work, the kids got to come to work with us today. Nóra slipped in a welcome lesson on teeth hygiene to offer a welcome break from work (and to compensate for the chocolates eaten from the bowl at the reception?).Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Greener still

    April 23, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We had only been away for 10 days and returned to the garden greener than green, trees in full leaf, and grass and flowers bursting with life. After the first doze Covid vaccine (Moderna) that knocked me out a bit a few days ago, this is like a humongous energy shot. Absolutely stunning.Read more

  • Notes from HungaryThe Vanyi Caravan 2021Notes from Hungary

    Self-sustainable guests

    April 25, 2021 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    The sun brought Tanya, Edmund, and the girls down from Budapest. They came with the full package of lunch (pelmeni, pastries, and the Russian version of Turo Rudi) and four extra pairs of hands to clean up the woods just around our house. A job long overdue, pulling out rubbish dumped in the woods years ago, the immediate path around ou plot filed 7 giant rubbish bags. Sad, but thankfully now done, thank you!!!Read more

  • Trip end
    December 31, 2021
  • 2026© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice