Why come
History and nature on one path
The lime avenue carries the memory of spa walks, and in the beech wood around it the black woodpecker and other birds nest in hollow-bearing trees. On Hradisko you can discover both on the same walk.
Avenues and protected woodland • Rožnov pod Radhoštěm • Beskydy Protected Landscape Area
The avenues on Hradisko
Three old rows of trees above the town. Spa guests took their prescribed walks along the lime avenue, and in the beech wood around it the black woodpecker cuts its hollows.
Three rows of trees, a vanished castle and protected woodland
On the slopes and ridge of Hradisko stand three old rows of trees – a lime avenue, a mixed horse-chestnut-and-lime one and a fruit avenue. Protected beech wood covers the hillsides: in the old trees with their hollows nest the black woodpecker and other birds.
In the days of the Rožnov climatic spa the lime avenue was where people went for their špacír. At the top it joined the path to the castle ruins.
When to come
All year, best in May and October
In spring the crowns still let light through and the avenue has the most light; in autumn the colours come out. The paths are unsurfaced forest tracks, slippery after rain.
What not to miss
The fruit avenue and the dead trees
By the farm grows a fruit avenue being restored with young trees of old varieties. In the woods, look out for dead trees with hollows – birds nest and bats hibernate in them.
Photographs from the horse-chestnut-and-lime avenue.
1820 → 1945
A walk as medicine
Treatment at the Rožnov climatic spa rested on mountain air – patients came here to breathe deeply. Walks were part of the regime too: the doctor gave a schedule of how many kilometres to walk a day and over what kind of ground. From it the patient then chose among the routes over the surrounding hills.
The walk up the lime avenue to Hradisko was one of the gentler recommended routes. At the start of the 20th century up to three thousand guests arrived each season. The Second World War ended the spa, and the surrounding wood gradually closed in around the lime avenue – it can still be walked today.
- the spa founded
- 1820
- guests a season
- 3,000
- the end of the spa
- 1945
Each leads somewhere else
Three avenues above the town
Along the old road to the castle
The lime avenue
The limes grow on the hillside along a track which, historians say, follows the original approach to Rožnov Castle. They were planted only after the castle was gone. The avenue now runs through wood that closed in around it after the spa ended.
Along the ridge to the estate farm
The horse-chestnut-and-lime avenue
The second avenue runs along the ridge and around the hill to the former home farm of the estate. Horse chestnuts and limes predominate in it – what it looks like is shown by the photographs and the 360° tour above.
To the farm among old varieties
The fruit avenue
The third avenue is a fruit one and stood here as early as the 19th century. It runs along a field track to the farm. Conservationists are restoring it and have planted several dozen trees of old varieties here.
Hollow-bearing trees and birds
Trees with a hole
The black woodpecker: a carpenter whose hollows house other species
The slopes of Hradisko are covered by beech wood with spruce – the wood the lime avenue climbs through to the castle. Old trees in it are left standing as hollow-bearing trees even after they die. There are a great many such trees here – just under 18 hectares of this wood is listed as an ornithologically very important site in the Natura 2000 network.
Protected and threatened bird species nest here: the black woodpecker, the grey-headed woodpecker, flycatchers and the common redstart. The most conspicuous is the black woodpecker, the largest European woodpecker. It is all black, with a red crown. In the wood you are more likely to hear it than see it.
The woodpecker cuts hollows into trunks, by preference into old beeches. After it, they are taken over by birds, bats and insects that cannot cut a hollow for themselves.
- area of the protected site
- 17.2 ha
- type of woodland
- beech with spruce
- carpenter of the hollows here
- black woodpecker
Who nests here
Black woodpecker
Dryocopus martius
An all-black bird the size of a crow. The male's whole crown is red, the female's only the nape.
Foto: MadsSyndergaard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, výřez
Grey-headed woodpecker
Picus canus
A smaller relative of the black woodpecker, with a grey head and greenish back. Its call is a run of whistles falling away at the end.
Foto: Prateik Kulkarni, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, výřez
Common redstart
Phoenicurus phoenicurus
A small songbird with a rust-red tail. It cannot cut a hollow of its own, so it nests in those left by the woodpecker.
Foto: El Golli Mohamed, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, výřez
Timeline
From the road to the castle to protected woodland
Landmarks of the rows of trees below Hradisko – from the fall of the castle to today's restoration of the fruit avenue.
1539
The castle above the avenue is demolished
Rožnov Castle is pulled down on the king's order. The road the lime avenue later follows thereby loses its destination.
The castle's story1820
The avenue becomes a prescribed route
A climatic spa is founded in Rožnov. The walk up the lime avenue to Hradisko becomes one of the recommended routes for health walks.
How the spa began19th c.
The fruit avenue by the farm
A row of fruit trees grows along the field track to the farm – an unusual kind of avenue, recorded as early as the 19th century.
early 20th c.
Three thousand guests a season
The spa is at its height: up to three thousand guests a season. The lime avenue is among the routes of their prescribed walks.
1945
The end of the spa
The Second World War ended the spa. The surrounding wood gradually swallowed the lime avenue.
Today
Restoration and protection
Conservationists are restoring the fruit avenue by planting old varieties; the beech wood with its hollow-bearing trees is protected as a Natura 2000 site.
Visit
Plan your walk to the avenues
Where exactly it is
On the slopes and ridge of Hradisko
The rows of trees line the tracks on the hill Hradisko in the Vsetínské vrchy, about two kilometres south-west of central Rožnov. Most people set out to them from the Bučiska district of Rožnov; at the top the path carries on to the castle ruins.
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Hradisko nature trail
How to get here: on foot from the town
On foot from the centre, the way up Hradisko goes through Bučiska. Leave the car in Rožnov; the climb up the lime avenue joins the Hradisko nature trail. Its third panel is titled “Lipová alej, doupné stromy a lázeňství” and sums up exactly what this page is about.
- 1
Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, the centrestart · on foot from the square
The way up the hill begins in the Bučiska district, within walking distance of the centre.
The avenues below Hradiskoyou are here · on the way up
A climb between old trunks – first the lime avenue, higher up the horse-chestnut-and-lime one and the fruit avenue by the farm.
- ↓
Onwards: the ruins of Rožnov Castleat the top · continuation
Ramparts, ditches and the remains of walls with the vaulted passage on the summit of the hill.
Going back: the nature trail is a loop – you can come down the other branch and return to town by a different way than you came.
What to know before you go
Entry
Free, open at any hour. The avenues run along public tracks; the pastures around them are private and fenced – do not go beyond the electric fence.
Terrain
The surface differs from avenue to avenue – the horse-chestnut-and-lime one is surfaced (suitable for a pushchair), while the lime and fruit avenues have stretches of earth with roots and stones.
How long it takes
The walk up the lime avenue takes just under an hour. With the climb to the ruins and the loop of the nature trail, Lesy ČR reckons on 1.5 to 4 hours.
Nearest facilities
Refreshments and toilets are down in Rožnov.
Na závěr
Doplňující info a test znalostí
Rychlá rekapitulace
How many avenues are there on Hradisko, and where do they lead?
Three. The lime avenue climbs from the town along a track which, historians say, follows the original approach to Rožnov Castle; the horse-chestnut-and-lime one runs along the ridge to the former home farm of the estate; and the fruit avenue grows along the field track to the farm.
Why is the spa mentioned in connection with the avenues?
From 1820 Rožnov had a climatic spa where people came to be treated by mountain air. Walks were part of the treatment, following the doctor's schedule of how many kilometres to walk a day and over what kind of ground. The walk up the lime avenue to Hradisko was among the gentler of the recommended routes.
How do I get to the avenues, and can I drive there?
On foot you reach them from central Rožnov through the Bučiska district – the climb up the lime avenue joins the Hradisko nature trail. The lime avenue is for walkers only; the horse-chestnut-and-lime one is the ordinary asphalt access road to Hradisko.
Is there a charge, or are opening hours limited?
No, the avenues are freely accessible and free of charge all year. They run along public tracks. The pastures around them are private and fenced – do not go beyond the electric fence.
Why are dead trees left standing in the wood?
They are hollow-bearing trees, and birds nest and bats hibernate in their hollows. It is precisely how many there are that makes Hradisko an ornithologically important site of the Natura 2000 network, over just under 18 hectares.
Závěrečný kvíz
Otázka 1 z 4
What was the lime avenue climbing up to Hradisko used for?
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