Active reservations of the winter holidays has started. The holiday cottages and guest houses at the countryside is filling up. If you plan to spent holidays in Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania - it is now a time to make a booking.  Here are few samples of places still available: Ezerseta, Kazoki, Ezerklabi Meza namins in Latvia, Puumetsa Vaike in Estonia. 

Along with accomodation we can offer you skiing and spa packages, walks by snow shoes, day excursions, degustations of local food and visits to crafts workshops where you can try your hand in creative processes. All that and much more, we can tailor-made just for your needs.  Samples of our winter packages find here: Winter Pleasures in Latvia and Winter Break in Northern Latvia.

For enquries and booking please contact us on: lauku@celotajs.lv

Because we Latvians eat so many potatoes, why not celebrate the potato harvest?  Country Traveller has joined with the Latvian Association of Potato Growers and Processors and the Kalnciema Street Block to organize a Potato Festival!

The County Traveller information tent will be an embassy for the countryside.  Here you will be able to find the best places to find the widest variety of countryside goodies, from potatoes to grapes. The Putni folklore group will bring music to the celebration, and later the women of Rucava will demonstrate their song skills.  After that, potato growers will take the stage to share in their wisdom – which types of potatoes are best for crispy potato pancakes, which ones are most productive, which ones are in the greatest demand, which ones should be bought, which ones should be planted, etc. Ēriks Dreibants from the Trīs Pavāru Restaurant will offer a master’s class on using modern recipes to cook potatoes. Sandra Aigara from the “Zvanītāji” traditions centre and the women from Rucava will get busy with traditional dishes such as Kurzeme soured soup, potato packets with creamy bacon sauce, and crispy potato pancakes with bacon. You will learn many interesting facts about potatoes. There will be potato relay races and competitions. 

Festival programme here.

Media information here.

Looking in the sky we now see big, white clouds, no any more summer' s heat, cranes call more often, it rains from time to time, landscape is dramatically beautiful. Autumn is getting closer and the real mushroom time is here!

For mushroom enthusiasts' groups we have prepared the mushroom exploring trips for one week or longer here. 

But 1-2 day mushroom expeditions can be arranged too. The minimum number of participants are four persons. Just contact us! lauku@celotajs.lv

• 17.08. Dižmāras onions market "Brauc uz Talsem pierkt sīpoļs!"  Talsi, town square,  http://www.talsi.lv/dizmaras-gadatirgus-2013
• 24.08. Lamprey Festival at Carnikava. Possibility to learn about the traditional skills of catching, cooking and preserving lampreys. Tastings.
• 24.08. XIII Latvian Milk and Honey Festival in Jelgava, Raiņa park and the regatta of boats made from used milk packaging at Lielupe river. www.kultura.jelgava.lv and www.jelgava.lv
• 6. - 25.09. 9th International Arts Residence "Marks Rothko 2013" in Daugavpils.

www.rotkocentrs.lv

• 07.09. Bānītis Festival, celebration of 110 years of narrow gauge railway from Gulbene to Alūksne. www.banitis.lv
• 13.09. Soviet secondary school at the Dundagas Castle - exhibitions, concerts, performances www.dundaga.lv
• 14.09. Harvest Festival at V. Ķirpa Ates Museum. www.aluksne.lv
• 21.09. Potato Festival at Kalnciema market, Rīga (Kalnciema kvartāls). www.celotajs.lv
• 29.09. Miķeļa Day Market at Jēkabpilis, Kena park. http://www.jkp.lv/lv/aktuaali-27666/pasaakumu-plaans-2013-284421

To promote countryside travelling and to give a presentation of what a visitor would experience and enjoy in the countryside we have produced 7 new videos http://www.celotajs.lv/cont/about/video_en.html. Each one is about half a minute story about a particular topic: seasons of a year, open farms and craft shops, Latvian symbols, etc. The videos are presented in our web site, social networks, and they will be demonstrated in rural tourism promotional events.

Check our 7 new videos and get inspired for holidays in the Latvian countryside!  http://www.celotajs.lv/cont/about/video_en.html All nature seasons, good country food, open farms, attractive crafts - simple and true things to enjoy. Watch the videos - and enjoy visiting!

 Summer time is busy and packed with lots of events all across Latvia. We have selected our top of the events:

On 5th June in Brussels, the president of the Latvian Countryside Association "Lauku Celotājs", Asnāte Ziemele received an award Best Life-Environment Project for POLPROP-NATURA  project in EU LIFE programme. The project took place in the SlītereNational Park as a demo territory from 2009-2012. "Lauku Ceļotājs" executed the project together with the people and organizations of Slītere. The sustainable tourism development model was created by attracting local entrepreneurs, inhabitants, local authorities and administration of SlītereNational Park. This experience was used for making proposals for environmental protection and tourism development policy. 

Midsummer Solstice Celebrations (Jāņi) is the biggest celebration in Latvia which roots goes deep in ancient times. It is wildly celebrated and many pre-events take place few days before 23-24 June (when it is always celbrated) Some events are more traditional than the others. In our list - we have put only few events wich will give you traditional feel of Jāņi and activities surroounded with it.

The new Executive Committee will lead and manage EuroGites during the period of 2013-2016: Andy Woodward, FARMSTAY UK - President (UK), Klaus Ehrlich, RAAR - Secretary General (ES), Asnāte Ziemele, Latvian Country Tourism Association, Jan Tjosaas, HANEN (Norway), Panos Poulos, Hellenic Agrotourism Federation (Greece), Linas Zabaliunas, Lithuanian country tourism association, Patrick Farjas, GITES DE FRANCE (France), Hans Embacher, Urlaub am Bauernhof in Österreich (Austria).