Vana-Vastseliina manor park

When walking around the Räpina School of Horticulture, you will find an exciting planting area for perennials, and you can enjoy various summer and perennial flowers in the collection garden. In the collection garden, you can admire 50 different varieties of park roses by Rein Joost, lilies of Mart Heering, about 30 varieties of lilacs by Adolf Vaigla, and 20 varieties of vines by Jaan Kivistik.There are more than 600 different species of trees and shrubs throughout the park and the school (dendrological plant material), with herbaceous plants that include perennials, roses, lianas, natural herbaceous plants, and summer plants – a total of almost 1,200 plants.It is possible to book excursions both in the park and in the collection garden.

Pühajärv, with its picturesque winding shoreline and four islands, is the largest lake in Otepää Nature Park. At the northern tip of Pühajärv, there is a beach area with a beach house, ball courts, a children's playground, recreation areas, a café, and a boat harbor. At the southern tip is the Kooliranna recreation area, and from there begins the Väike Emajõgi, which meanders through Valgamaa. Pühajärve Park is the starting point for the Murrumetsa hiking trail, and around the lake runs the 12 km long Pühajärve hiking trail, which passes by the lake's most famous spring, the Armuallikas. In winter, when weather conditions are suitable, an ice trail is created on the lake for hiking, and a winter swimming area is open at Pühajärve Beach.Pühajärv has provided plenty of inspiration for writers and artists. For example, Fridebert Tuglas and Eino Leino have vacationed here. Information about Konrad Mägi's Pühajärv paintings can be found on an info board by the lakeshore near the GMP Pühajärve restaurant. In 1991, the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, visited Otepää and blessed the lake, an event commemorated by a wooden sculpture on the shore of Pühajärve Park.

The Ülenurme Manor Park was established in the second half of the 19th century when the new manor was built. The Historicist main building of the manor, as well as the smaller buildings next to the park, which are used by the Estonian Agricultural Museum, have been well preserved.Here, you can see farm animals, ride ponies, and visit exhibitions. From 15 May 2021 to 30 April 2022, you can visit the wonderful exhibition of agricultural machinery models 'World of Mini Tractors'.Ülenurme Park is a wonderful place for the whole family to walk and enjoy nature. There are information boards in the park,so you can study the different types of trees and shrubs growing here.

The field of naturally growing daffodils, which is unique in the Baltic states, can be found in the Vara rural municipality. Yellow daffodils are rare in the wild and the daffodil field in Sookalduse is a rarity that has been taken under conservation. The daffodils originate from the bulb that Peep Sibul, the landlord of Sookalduse, got from Saare Manor and planted in his garden in the end of the 19th century.The yellow sea of flowers can be enjoyed from around the middle of April, depending on the spring.

Mõniste Manor was first mentioned in 1542. The last owners of the manor were the von Wulff family, but the manor was destroyed in the Estonian War of Independence. The 14.6 ha park at Mõniste was founded in 1840 and is one of the oldest in Võru County. The Mõniste Reservoir plays an important role in the design of the park. The site of the former Manor House is now a large meadow. Spruce, oak, linden, silver birch and larch are indigenous to the park. Some of the more rare species include common spindle, Manchurian walnut and Douglas fir. A sculpture depicting bears is located near the park on the Võru-Valga highway - a reminder of the highway decorations that were in fashion during the Soviet occupation.

Laidi and Igor Zalekeshin's garden in Mustvee attracts gardening enthusiasts from outside Estonia as well.Visitors are charmed by the quarrystones and conifers, more than a hundred in total in the garden. Most of them, more than 50 varieties, are arborvitae. Both the host and the hostess love quarrystones, so this love has resulted in many exciting garden design elements – stone baskets, pathways, garden posts. Garden patches are mostly covered by stones. Old items are on display in the garden house; a visitor enjoying a walk is enchanted by the small bridges, waterholes, a swing set and a windmill, most of them made by the family. The walls of the house are decorated by paintings of the family's favourites – quarrystones, conifers and cats. There are more than 20 cat statues in the garden.

Families with children are particularly welcome in the Lake Pühajärv Park as there are many opportunities to feed ducks and other birds when walking on the lakeshore. There is an exercise track by the northern part of the park. This is also the place where you will find the beach with a beach house, cafés, arbours and boat hire.The park used to be a part of the Pühajärv Manor Park and it was designed as a walking forest with paths already in the 19th century. The park is mainly a naturally grown forest.

You'll need several people to measure the circumference of the ancient, nearly 400-year-old oak tree towering nearby Lake Pühajärv in Otepää! The trunk of this ancient tree has a circumference of 6.6 meters. It is called the War Oak because it has witnessed many historical events. Apparently, peasants of the Pühajärv Manor refused to work for the manor in autumn 1841 and the rebels were punished near the oak. The Pühajärve War was one of the first peasant uprisings against the landlords in Estonia, and in memory of it, an oak tree was planted nearby, where a memorial stone was erected on the 130th anniversary of the uprising. A beautiful park with walking tracks surrounds the tree today, and although the ancient tree is no longer in its full glory, it stands here to its full dignity, recalling times gone by.