The Farm Vrhovc

A distinctive trait of the landscape is the sharp contrast between forests, which provide the framework, and open agricultural areas. Typical is the extensive use of the soil, the intermingling of forests and grassland, a rare settlement in the form of hamlets and isolated farms. The waters cut this world into a very fragmented landscape with deep valleys and gorges. Škofjeloško hills are more inhabited than other pre-Alpine hill regions. The farms were sometimes self-sufficient, with their own production of cereals, flax and potatoes. The cereal and flax production was  abandoned and replaced by grassland cattle breeding. The plant production is intended for self-sufficiency and tourists. The area is vital due to traffic connections with the valleys, as well as due to successful management (forestry, livestock farming, tourism, daily migration to the valley). As many others, Andrej farm was typically part-time farm whose members were employed in the nearby companies in the valley. As Andrej took over the farm, he realized that the cattle breeding and forestry alone will not contribute enough to family income. Even worse; for maintaining the farm they had to use money earned outside the agricultural activities. He decided to try with agritourism. He had some doubts and fears like remote area, bad road connections and investment risk. But on the other hand, there were also advantages like landscape, ski resort developing nearby, rising consumer interest in local food and active life style. As it turned out, it was the right decision. Nowadays, agriculture supports tourism which is the core business of the family. From current point of view the progress could be even faster and some activities could have been developed earlier. They have never thought that fish pond and fishing will attract so many people. Still, they don´t want to threaten farm stability by too much investment. They are not afraid of the future since there are young generations that are ready to take over and who already contribute with their ideas about farm development. They are estimating cost of setting up meat processing facilities and also a campsite for more demanding guests.