Bára Basiková: The cottage is my refuge

As a woman who recharges her energy away from show business, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, in the middle of the beautiful Brda nature. From his cottage, he looks out over the pond and the surrounding meadows and forests. He watches the stars from the roof at night. For twenty years, he has been giving a new esprit to the several hundred-year-old former mill with rooms with original, vaulted ceilings, and in an oasis of peace, surrounded by an enclosed garden and a large barn, he enjoys every day here.

The last kilometers lead you along a narrow, winding road in the middle of fields, meadows and woods. Beauty, peace, romance. What does it do to you when you approach the cottage this way?

There is a road leading to the cottage, where about one car passes a day, and I always look forward to seeing the pond behind the cottage around the last bend. At that moment, a melancholic sense of calm awakens in me. Because here is really an oasis. Silence and peace, which is not at all in Prague, and I live in the center, so for me it is a complete contrast. I am very happy here.

How much time do you spend at the cottage?

Enough. When I don’t have time, I go here for just two days, which is enough for me to refresh and recharge my energy. During the twenty years that we’ve had the cottage, I’ve often been here alone and it doesn’t bother me at all. I am also pleased with the feeling that I was able to buy all this with my earned money. I’m in mine. It is my refuge.

What time of year do you enjoy the most here?

Especially summer. It is extremely beautiful here. You can stay here all year round, because we have centrally arranged heating and all facilities such as a bathroom, washing machine, dishwasher, etc., but I love summer here. When I open the door in the morning, I see a green garden and a cloudless sky, that makes me happy. Daughter Anička, who comes here with her husband, sighs how hot it is, but I enjoy it. I lie in the sun, read, then maybe go for a swim in the pool. Autumn is starting to lose its charm for me – the trees turn yellow, the leaves fall, everything seems to be exposed here, suddenly you can see them here from our village… We’ve spent Christmas here a few times, but it’s not for me. It doesn’t make much sense for me to just be locked up in a cottage.

You mentioned your daughter – in which lineup do you most often go here?

In recent years, mainly me, both daughters, Anička and Maruška with their partners, and son Theodor. He has known it here since he was a child, he has a relationship with the cottage. He spent his childhood there, rode his bike, made friends here. Girls like it here too. They take care of the rockeries, bushes, herbs, and we continuously build and maintain the cottage and garden here. But all four of us worked hard here. They say that if you have a cottage, your ass is in a mold, and so it is. For example, last year I had new trusses made and a whole new roof. It’s non-stop work, and then when we come here after the winter, there’s a lot more to do.

Last year, you even started thinking about selling the cottage…

The girls told me: Mom, you keep putting money into it, we keep improving it, we work here, and in the end we only get to enjoy the cottage for a few weeks during the summer. What if we sold it? Since I don’t stick to things or places, I don’t have ties to real estate, so at first I thought to myself, yes, good idea, we will be relieved, we won’t have to deal with the fact that we have to drive to the cottage mainly because we need to cut the grass, clear a fallen tree , turn off the pool filtration or just whatever. The girls and I started thinking about whether I would buy something small near Prague, or that I would travel even more with the money, because that’s just mine! I was already looking forward to the vision and wanted to contact the broker. But then I thought that before that happens, it would be a good idea to cool it down a bit. And since spring, artisans have started working here. Painting, new windows, new bathroom, plumbing, new floors. I suddenly realized that it is so beautiful here that I don’t want to sell it. We’ll see what happens in a year. But I have freedom in that I can – and I don’t have to.

Do you know the history of this place?

Four hundred years ago it was a mill, which included the barn we are looking at. Several generations of a miller’s family lived here. In the 1970s, the last descendant lived here, an old man who sold the building. The new owner sensitively reconstructed, transformed and improved the cottage and the garden, so I bought it from her practically in the form in which it is still today. At that time, we only did new heating, the floor in the kitchen and then also the pool. The whole village laughed at me, why do I need a pool when I have a huge pond behind my garden, but I just wanted it.

When you were thinking about buying a cottage, what vision did you have?

I was thinking that I would either buy a ruin, which we would then improve ourselves, or we would buy something that had already been improved and we would like it so much that no major interventions would be needed. But I perceived the place as the most important. The barracks can always be modified in some way, but the place where it stands is fixed once and for all. I originally thought of some old vicarage, but neither was in such a beautiful place as we are now. My ex-husband and I saw about thirty cottages at the time. After about a year of searching, I saw pictures of this one on the Internet. She looked tempting, so off we went. Although it was April and the garden was still bare, I suddenly felt that this is what makes me feel good here, and always will.

What key did you use to decorate the interior?

We put together a part from antiques and various bazaars, and a few pieces are my good old IKEA. It never disappoints, because I always find things there that are nice, cheap, simple. In the early years, I tended to fill the space with baskets, vases and other decorations, but my daughters, on the contrary, started to hold me back. So this year, as part of the reconstruction, a big purge took place, everything unnecessary flew away, and that’s better. Less is sometimes more.

Do you prefer to improve the cottage or the garden?

I enjoy being able to focus on the interior. If necessary, I mow the grass too, but otherwise the girls and their boys here do absolutely everything. And that without me guiding them in any way or teaching them somewhere. Quite naturally, they enjoy it. And I’m very happy for that, because after breaking up with Theodore’s dad, I was left alone.

What is your favorite corner of the cottage?

There are more of them. For example, my room is very pleasant. When it’s nice, I have the window open all day and everything there is scented with clean air. I air the duvets in the sun, and when I lie down in them at night, they have an unmistakable, wonderful smell. It’s great to sleep here, because the cottage has original stone walls, sometimes a meter and a half thick, so it’s never hot inside. On the other hand, when the cottage is heated in winter, the heat is retained beautifully in those walls.

Where in the garden do you feel good?

I like it when I can read a book on a deckchair in front of the cottage. Or roll on the beds we have in the shed by the fireplace. And when we make a fire in it in the evening, sit, look into the flames and talk, that’s just good.

You said you like to watch the stars here at night.

Well of course! We have a smaller house in the garden where the girls used to sleep and where the fireplace is also, and it has a flat roof. So we lie on it, show each other different constellations, try to identify others… We are far from cities, so the stars shine extremely bright and strong here. Especially on warm summer nights, I absolutely love these moments.

You enjoy the solitude here, the stars, the rising sun, the view of the garden… Did you have to grow into this setting over the years, or have you always had it in you?

I kind of had it in me since childhood. But over the years it deepened and developed. Even as a child, I was extremely looking forward to summer vacations, and not only because I have always loved summer and heat. But I associated that period with the fact that we always spent it in one place, in the countryside near Strakonice. My brother and I were happy there. We really enjoyed it and I always got the most out of it. It charged me until next spring. To this day, I can still remember the rustling of the trees, the bubbling of the river, the long evenings… And thanks to the cottage, I enjoy these and other similar moments more and more. I appreciate that I can enjoy myself like this here.

Is there a period that you remember particularly fondly in connection with the cottage?

For the covid period. We actually moved here. I couldn’t perform anywhere, Maruška couldn’t work because she was in the hotel industry, Anička worked from here and Tedík had distance learning. We spent one whole year here. Still one foot outside, as close to nature as we could ever be. He messed with the whole company that year and derailed us as well. Here, however, one subconsciously perceived some order, which was reassuring. Regardless of everything, nature took its course – the swallows arrived as they do every year, nested again in the barn, brought out the young and then flew away. The flowers began to bloom in the spring as in other years. Magnolias, peonies, hydrangeas, all kinds of shrubs bloomed. In autumn, the leaves started to color again. It had its own order, its own laws, and I was completely enchanted by that year in the village.

If you played an imaginary movie in your head about the cottage and your family – what moments are projected there?

There will be clouds. The girls were fifteen sixteen when we bought it. They took a small house in the garden and made it their kingdom. Their friends came here with them, later their boyfriends. I have little Tedík in front of my eyes here in the pram. He was here as a baby… We really spent a lot of wonderful moments here. And not just as a family. My daughter and I have a girl group that consists of my friends and hers, and once a year we meet here at the cottage for at least a few days. There have been so many summer parties and barbecues over there by the outdoor fireplace! We enjoy it, we sing, we dance and it’s a blast. We probably shout a lot with the girls, which is certainly carried through the whole village, but the neighbors never complained. So they tolerate us about once a year.

How did the neighbors accept that the singer they had only known from magazines and television moved into their village?

The neighbors are great. I never had any conflict with them. I know that if I need help with something, I can turn to some and they will help. I didn’t quite fit in with their style and habits, for example in the fact that I don’t visit anyone and none of them visit me either. But I know everyone, and when we meet in the village, we say hello, stand together for a while and it’s fine. I’m probably a bit strange to them in that when I come here I don’t take my heels out of the garden. But I usually get to the cottage for a few days, so I want to enjoy it here until the last moment, because I’m just happy here.