U Dvori Ethno Complex, Pidhorodtsi

U Dvori ethno complex is a family homestead in the village of Pidhorodtsi near Skole, set on a hill above the Stryi river valley a few kilometres from the Tustan rock fortress. In 2018 its founder, Liubov Kuzyk, opened the “Ethno-Museum of Culture and Everyday Life in Workshops” here: a collection of about 4,000 objects of Boyko daily life, most of them in working order and actually used during the tour. Besides the museum, the complex has a small hotel, a restaurant with home cooking, a handicraft shop and a restored old wine cellar.

What it is

U Dvori is not a classic museum where you only look at exhibits. The host’s aim is to show “how things used to be” and let guests try everything themselves. Food is cooked and bread is baked in a wood-fired stove, you can weave a few rows of cloth on the loom, grind grain with millstones and churn real butter to taste straight away. A separate part of the tour is devoted to Ukrainian embroidery: the museum keeps old clothing made of hemp and linen cloth in which visitors can pose for photos. Reviewers say the homestead feels like a living ethnographic museum of Boykivshchyna and that the hosts know countless stories about the region.

What to do with children and the whole family

The most popular format is a one-day programme for children and parents lasting about three hours. For children it is hands-on:

• baking bread in a wood-fired oven, with everyone taking home a loaf they made;
• a visit to the museum of Boyko culture and daily life with stories about old crafts and customs;
• butter churning with tasting;
• a Carpathian tea ceremony with herbal tea;
• painting an eco-bag or backpack with acrylics, a souvenir made by hand.

Adults get a tour of the complex, a visit to the old wine cellar with tasting, the museum, butter churning and Carpathian tea, followed by lunch with a view of the mountains and the Stryi valley. The complex welcomes school groups; classes come here from Boryslav and elsewhere.

What to buy as a souvenir

The U Dvori shop sells handmade goods from natural materials: soap, a vitamin Carpathian tea of twelve herbs, herbal syrups, pastila, fruit preserves and creamed honey, beeswax candles, hay and wooden toys and crocheted key rings. Wines and fruit liqueurs can be bought in the wine cellar.

Practical information

• Address: 19a Ivana Franka Street, Pidhorodtsi, Stryi (formerly Skole) district, Lviv region.
• Phone: +380 98 644 82 78 (Ms Liuba), e-mail [email protected].
• Season: all year.
• Hours: tours and workshops by prior booking; agree the time by phone.
• Prices: not published on the website; ask for current prices when booking.
• Accommodation: the complex has a four-room hotel (two doubles and two quadruples) with a balcony overlooking the mountains and the river.

How to get there

Pidhorodtsi lies in the Stryi valley between Urych and Verkhnie Syniovydne, about 32 km from Truskavets and 49 km from Slavske. A car is the most convenient option: from Lviv take the Mukachevo road via Stryi and then head towards Urych and Tustan, or come from Boryslav via Urych. The easiest way is to navigate by the homestead’s GPS coordinates. The host can arrange a transfer from Lviv or the airport; ask when booking.

At a glance

• Address: Pidhorodtsi
• Opening hours: By prior booking
• Season: All year round
• Prices: Prices not published; ask by phone when booking.
• Phone: +380986448278

Website and social media: udvori.com.ua · facebook.com · instagram.com · youtube.com

Photos: udvori.com.ua; lh3.googleusercontent.com.