Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
These guesthouses in Transylvania are an important part of the Trust's Whole Village Project, an integrated approach to rural regeneration and sustainable development through the sensitive use of cultural and natural heritage in Transylvania. Our policy is to attract low intensity, culturally sensitive tourism that brings benefits directly to the community and has a minimum negative impact on the natural and social environment.
Visitors are encouraged to engage with the life of the villagers, taking time to enjoy the slow rhythm of life here. All activities (walks, horse-cart rides etc.) are designed to maximise benefits at local level, using exclusively contractors and providers from the village or neighbouring villages.
The guesthouses themselves were saved from near-collapse and restored using only natural, traditional building materials and local labour. By staying in these guesthouses, tourists put money back into the community – directly, as the cost of accommodation helps fund the Trust’s charitable projects, and indirectly, by buying and consuming local products and services.
In the villages, the Trust helps increase employment opportunities, trains local inhabitants in new or forgotten skills, supports small businesses and craft workshops, improves various facilities (pavements, stream beds, waste collection etc.) and repairs historic buildings and houses. In Viscri we built a traditional brick and tile kiln, which gives jobs to an entire family, while at the same time providing much needed restoration materials. In Malancrav we manage a 100-hectare apple orchard and make organic apple juice. We also manage a 70-hectare nature reserve at Breite near Sighisoara.
The Trust is a registered charity and all income from tourism at our guesthouses in Transylvania is used to fund our community projects in the Saxon villages. Initial response of the Trust was to save houses and churches from accelerating dilapidation, but was soon followed by an effort to revive the historical agricultural economy. While introducing the techniques required by the farmers, we began a scheme to train villagers – most of them now Romanians or gypsies – in the use of traditional building materials, and in the art of conservation. We began to restore the old drinking wells, the cobbled streets, and the wattling that shores up the banks of the streams through the villages. We have encouraged inns and guesthouses that might cater for discerning tourists and have built stables for horse-trekking. We also give advice, grants and loans to enable farmers, craftsmen and others to start or expand small ventures – for example, helping owners to make their own conversions or to produce and market local products.
The underlying philosophy of all our actions – including the development of small-scale, sustainable tourism – is that the local community should benefit from the unique cultural and natural heritage it possesses. This, in turn, will help increase local people’s understanding and care for these treasures, and will safeguard their future. The entire staff of our guesthouse operations is local in the strictest sense: all cleaning, cooking, maintenance and repair on a particular guesthouse is done by people from that village. Additional activities (walks, horse riding, botanical and wildlife observation tours) are provided by firms and individuals from the region.
All food is sourced and cooked in the village, using home-grown natural ingredients. Decorative objects such as pottery, rugs and textiles are made in the village or in the nearest crafts centres. The Trust organised and paid for the local guesthouse caretakers to be trained in offering this type of tourism services, as well as in basic English language skills. Some of the trained caretakers have set up their own self-employed businesses.
We funded a number of promotion and information campaigns - printing leaflets, brochures and maps - to help raise awareness internationally about the beauty and plight of the Saxon villages of Transylvania. The information comes mainly from the local people in the village, they love keeping people informed. Before departure we give information about what to see and what to visit in the area and advice on how to get there. We can also provide books, brochures and maps of the area.
The entire income from guesthouse goes to our projects, here counted 20% lettings is re-directed towards our biodiversity conservation projects in the area (research, protected area management, ecological education). Traditional farming methods, such as are still practiced in the Saxon villages, are proven to benefit the environment. Our guesthouse tourism encourages and supports local farmers to maintain their small, traditional holdings, which have become an important part of the visitor experience. The meals are cooked with local ingredients and this encourages the peasants to work the land and to produce organic food and make them touch an extra income. By having tourists in their village, the locals are aware of their unique way of life and they try to preserve the meadows, the forests, the barns with animals, the agriculture and the day by day customs.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
