Lauku labumi Vidzeme

Tourists can learn about the history of the estate and the brewing of beer, beginning with raw materials and ending with finished products. The visit is enriched by tastings of live beer and stories about Latvia’s traditional holiday beverage. Alongside the brewery is a store which sells live beer, homemade goodies and selected souvenirs.

The “Valmiermuižas alus virtuve” saloon popularises Latvian beers and uses beer in various dishes. A modern approach to homemade products is used to prepare foods and beer-based snacks. There is a beer garden during the summer, and the saloon merges traditional things with modern ones.

Latvian cuisine: Smoked pork, filet of pike from Lake Burtnieks, green pea mash, with loganberries, quince, pumpkin birch juice and mushroom sauce as accompaniments.

Special foods: Slice of pork marinated in unfiltered winter beer.

Abuls is one of the most experienced cider makers in Latvia. They craft artisanal cider near Smiltene, in Northern Vidzeme.

Our Story 
Cider making began in 2000, with passionate experimentation using local apples each year. Later, inspiration was drawn from visiting cider regions in Normandy, Asturias, Somerset, and the Basque Country. Since 2018, cider has been made in a newly built cider cellar near an orchard, at the very source of the Abuls River.

Apples
The cider orchard hosts about 400 apple trees - some are special English cider apples, local wild apples, paradise apples, and local late autumn apple varieties. True apple varieties are also sought on expeditions in Latvian nature - in forest edges, ditches, and abandoned gardens.

Ciders
The ciders are crafted using white wine-making techniques, which help preserve the freshness and local apple aroma as much as possible. All Abuls ciders are handmade. The cider is also fermented using the wild yeasts found on apple skins, which adds a natural sweetness of apple juice.

For Visitors 
The offer includes a tour of the cidery and orchard, a tasting of all available ciders, stories about cider culture, and the cider-making process.

Where to Buy 
The cider is available in bottles and on tap in kegs. Abuls ciders can be purchased in bars, cafes, and stores, as well as in markets and festivals, at the Abuls cider cellar, and online at the e-shop bode.abuls.lv.

The workshop offers a look at lanterns, candelabras, hinges, fireplace tools, stair railings and gates that have been manufactured there, as well as several exhibits from the 18^th century. You can produce your own nail, and the blacksmith will also “test” young couples. He also accepts orders for products.

This market sells produces from local farmers and home manufacturers who offer traditional and seasonal food which they grow and prepare themselves. You can purchase vegetables, fruit, fresh and smoked meat, cheese, bread, country tortes, homemade wine and various household and gardening objects.

Bread at Donas is baked according to ancient traditions. The dough is scalded in a trough, kneaded by hand and then lovingly shaped into loaves that are baked in a real wood stove on maple leaves. You can prepare your own loaf and take it home with you. Nothing is tastier than a warm slice of bread with milk and honey. You will also enjoy other Latvian country treats such as dried meat patties and sausages made of grits. There are also 17 different types of cheeses.

Latvian cuisine: Grit porridge, sauerkraut, country steak haché, 21 kinds of cheeses, milk, honey, herbal teas, country bread.

Special foods: Donas sourdough bread.

This family company offers high-quality and traditional beekeeping products in the Gauja National Park. There are some 110 hives of bees, and the products include honey, pollen, bee bread, wax and propolis. The owners also produce new and unprecedented products which satisfy the demand of clients for something that is unusual, but healthy. You can take a tour and purchase honey.

The farm, which has been developed around the servants’ home of the former Ķempēni Estate, breeds more than 200 Latvian dark-headed sheep. Visitors can purchase meat, wool and skins, also taking part in informational tours with tastings of various foods, as well as catching and tasting trout (this is available only to those who spend the night at the venue).

This is one of the largest farms in Latvia at which pedigreed goats are bred (more than 100 animals), and it also has state-of-the-art milking and milk storage technologies. You can go on a tour, encounter the animals, and taste and purchase goat cheese.

The farm grows some 25 types of plants and prepares products from approximately 50 types of plants. Visitors will learn about the use of medicinal plants not just in teas, but also in oils, extracts, tinctures, syrups, etc. These can be used for everyday nutrition. Products can be tasted and bought, and you can help out with the farm’s operations. There is also livestock to view.

The farm produces candies, marmalades, syrups and other goodies from quince. During the season, chicken eggs can be purchased. The farm has bred wild horses since 2002, and these can be viewed with the assistance of a guide.

The spoon workshop offers useful objects such as wooden spoons, cutting boards, butter knives, pans, spatulas, etc. You can produce your own wooden spoon and look at finished spoons made of more than 17 different types of wood from Latvia. During the summer the owners offer “pancake tours” with tasty jams. You can purchase spoons and homemade wine.

This workshop is in a lovely location, and you can commission and purchase interesting artworks made of various materials such as stone, glass and metal. The craftsman will demonstrate his work with glass and stone, also allowing you to take part in creative activities.

Large cranberries were first grown in the Laugas Swamp in Latvia in 1992. Today there are six types of cranberries that were originated in Latvia. Among them is a hybrid between large American cranberries and Latvian cowberries, and it is known as the noble cranberry. You can attend lectures, receive consultations, tour the swamp, and purchase cranberries, cranberry products, as well as purchase turf that is needed to grow your own cranberries.

The blacksmith’s shop is found at the medieval Cēsis Castle. You can examine, order and purchase reproductions of ancient jewellery, watch the craftsman at work, hear a very attractive story about the history of jewellery-making, and try your own hand at the craft.

The farm has large paddocks that are populated by fallow deer, mouflons, various types of goats, different kinds of pigs (including sheep pigs), peacocks, pheasants, various types of chickens and ducks, ostriches, etc. The owners offer tours, and during the season (V-X) you can purchase eggs and venison, form contacts with the animals, and purchase Latvian-made cosmetics at a little store which the owners have established.