Easy walks around the Kokořínsko village of Zahrádky with its old tree alleys: up to 10 km

• Zahrádky is a large village on the northern edge of the Kokořínsko protected landscape area, a few kilometers south of Česká Lípa. Keen hikers may know the village as one of the stops on the E10 European long distance footpath, which runs north to south through the middle of Bohemia, or perhaps as the end of the classic Czech walking trail, the 61 km Máchova cesta, a route associated with the 19th century romantic poetic Karel Hynek Mácha.
• However, it is not necessary to be involved in an ultra-long distance walk to enjoy the countryside around Zahrádky… Several shorter walks can be started from Zahrádky. The easiest follow some of the trails around the village, many of which are lined with beautiful mature tree avenues/alleys. These are associated with the 17th century Imperial General and nobleman, Albrecht of Valdštejn, who acquired the chateau in Zahrádky in 1623, to add to his huge collection of northern Bohemian properties.
• The grand 4-winged chateau has a Renaissance origin, but its current appearance is a blend of Baroque and Empire style modifications, mostly dating from the 19th century. The (inaccessible) chateau was badly damaged by fire in 2003 and is awaiting reconstruction. The chateau park is, however, partly accessible and is filled with a large variety of mature trees, including a rare hornbeam tree avenue.
• Other tree avenues line pathways running southwards from the village. Heading towards the village of Holany a remarkable linden tree alley (apparently planted on Valdštejn’s orders), runs for nearly 2 kilometers. It ends close to an intriguing small ‘rock castle’ or lookout, called Jiljov, which was created out of an independent sandstone block. It was probably a 19th century ‘romantic’ creation, but it is still worth a visit.
• Other tree avenues line paths heading towards the village of Borek. Just over a kilometer from Zahrádky, the lovely church of St Barbora, with its 16th century bell tower can be found on this last easy section of the Máchova cesta trail.
• All of the paths mentioned above are essentially flat and can be managed with a good stroller. This is not a circular route and requires returning to Zahrádky for each ‘leg’, but that means the route can be shortened if desired. Taking all three ‘legs’ results in a walk a little over 10 km in length. For refreshments, there are three country pubs in Zahrádky, of which the Hostinec u Dlabače (map point 7) has a pleasant outside terrace under a vine.

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• Zahrádky can be reached by bus from Doksy and Česká Lípa. There is a free parking area just off the main road to the south of the chateau area
• Start the walks at the trail junction in front of the chateau
• For the walk through the chateau park, take the RED trail heading towards the junction of Karba, which reached after 1.2 km. Return back to the chateau following the BLUE trail
• For the linden tree avenue and rock lookout of Jiljov, take the BLUE trail in the direction of Holany. After 2.5 km reach the trail junction of Sádky. The rock lookout is 300m to the left along a blue marked diversion trail. Return back to the chateau along the outbound route
• For the route to see the St Barbora church, follow the RED trail heading towards Doksy. The church is reached after about 1 km. Return back along the same path