A Visit to the Rabbit Town

A trip to Vecumnieki brought many interesting discoveries and pleasant surprises. Initially only one final destination had been chosen - the Rabbit Town - but in the end we managed to visit three places in all.

Driving into Vecumnieki, on the right side of the main road one cannot fail to notice the reddish-white wood-carved fence of "Jūras". It turns out this is an open-air Christian sculpture exhibition and eclectic-style little houses and sheds made by the hands of wood sculptor Juris Audzijoņš himself. Here there are figures of Christ and Mary, windmills and the many weathervanes, and flowers, butterflies, birds, and animals carved in wood. We met the distinctive homestead's owner repairing one of the birdhouses, characteristically dark red with white-speckled little windows.

Rabbit Town

On the left, 1.2 km from Vecumnieki's main road, lies Rabbit Town, founded and created by Ojārs Narvils. Entry for adults is Ls 2; no specific arrival time or day is set. Here one can walk freely, view the farm, and feed the rabbits with grass or with carrots brought along - but bread and other treats are not allowed. And visitors are plentiful: on the Saturday afternoon besides us another four cars and two large buses full of interested visitors arrived.

In specially built little houses one can see several dozen different dwarf rabbit breeds, as well as large rabbits in outdoor cages by the building. A couple of rabbits had escaped to freedom and were hopping around in the meadow, with no intention of making off anywhere far. The hostess, who welcomed us warmly, explained that the farm currently has around 600 rabbits in total, kept both for meat and for sale to pet shops. The greatest attention was drawn to a little house with a tower and red tile roof, where rabbit families lived on two floors, and in the tower a comical buck with the nickname Lūriķis (the Lurker). He had acquired this nickname at an exhibition at Ķīpsala, where the rabbit had climbed up to the very top floor of the tower and was watching everyone through the round hatch.

The Rabbit Town also has other inhabitants. Its guards - several dogs and a pair of geese that accompanied overly curious spectators with rather irate honking and attacking wing sweeps. Goats grazed in an enclosure, while across the pond paddled a duck with an amusing crest on its head. Around the place bustled a sizable flock of hens, in whose midst a rooster strolled proudly and every now and then sang his victory song.

Rabbit Town on the map

Inn in Vecumnieki

Having spent a good couple of hours at the Rabbit Town, we headed back towards Vecumnieki to drive on to Rīga. But of course somewhere had to be stopped at. And so we found the third interesting spot in Vecumnieki - the inn "Pie lielās karotes" (By the Big Spoon), open every day from 9:00 to 21:00. Attention was drawn mainly by the interior in an old-world style, with many and various old and handcrafted objects from Latvian rural homesteads. Comfortably woven chairs and solid wood tables. The food too was quite good and hearty.

It is a delight that Latvia has such small but enterprising and creative towns, whose people take care of bringing joy to themselves and others alike.