Completely off the beaten track

along a single track road, past picturebook hills and glistening lakes, lies the village of Bãla. Here is a long-forgotten world where farmers still work by hand, scything their grass and milking their cows, sheep or goats, whilst horses and carts ferry fresh hay to ancient wooden barns, and chickens and geese roam free.

It’s this rural enclave that Steve and Georgiana Teers discovered in the summer of 2013. On their way back from a visit to the Black Sea, they called in on an aunt, not seen for 30 years. Arriving in Bãla, they found a quiet but hard working community, with one bar and one shop, people deeply engrossed in the rhythm of the seasons, at one with the land, and they bought the house next door to the aunt, the birthplace of Georgiana’s grandmother. Six years later, with their two young children, they made La Poiata (‘the Old Barn’) their home.

La Poiata Retreat welcomes you to share the purity of this natural life, the simplicity and space offered by one of Europe’s last corners of unspoilt rustic beauty.

Now with two adjacent old village houses, a renovated barn, raised café and balcony, set in three acres of apple, pear, peach and cherry orchards, walnut trees, organic vegetables and a cornfield, La Poiata gives guests the opportunity to rest and rewind, back to a time when the natural order of the seasons was celebrated.

Amidst the ever-changing horticultural landscape, small farm animals can be found, for the delight of visiting children. Rescue lambs from nearby flocks, abandoned by ewes, are hand reared before being returned once fully grown. A family of rabbits can be petted, and chickens and ducks provide a plentiful supply of organic eggs.

We invite guests to step back from the daily treadmill and discover Transylvanian village life from the heart of the thriving rural community that is Băla.

And whilst you absorb the sights and sounds of the village, surrounded by the immense botanical diversity of the rolling Carpathian foothills, you will be invited to take part in as much, or as little, as you like of the guided workshops, craft tours, sunrise or sunset hill walks, trips to the nearby lake for swimming or rowing, meditation or yoga that may be on offer.

The Village of Bãla

Heading north towards Reghin from the city of Targu Mures you turn left at Dumbravioara and carry on towards Faragau. After winding through several villages, another left turn takes you last 5km to Bãla. There’s nowhere else to go except the even smaller sister village of Ercea.

The 440 small-holdings nestled here in a natural bowl amongst the Carpathian foothills, form a community that goes back some 700 years. Since the 1989 revolution, villages across Romania have seen declining populations as children go in search of the bright lights of the city with many houses falling into disrepair and abandoned. School numbers may have fallen in Bãla but there were sufficient young people to organise a choir for the traditional door-to-door carol singing at Christmas last year, and they might be less in number but the cows are still gathered every morning and led through the village on their way to pasture, and guided home at twilight.

All photos © Steve Teers