Newly reconstructed mill of Zuzana Kajnarová and Roman Říčár lies in the picturesque village of Smilovice. As they both say, thanks pandemic-covidu have plenty of time to rebuild the romantic background in relaxation wellness areawhich they want to rent not only to couples from the wider area. They will find facilities here artists, yogis or theatergoers. They are currently here war refugees from Ukraine.
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How does it happen that an acting couple starts to reconstruct a mill?
Roman: I went to this region as a little boy to my grandmother. When Zuzka and I got married, we decided to buy a ruin mill here, from which we would like to build something nice. We talked and dreamed about it for a long time, but we didn’t finish it until two years ago, when it was approved. First we built a pond, which we managed to restore after about a hundred years, and a year later we renovated the guest house. We built it from almost scratch, out of nowhere.
You set to work at the worst of the pandemic.
Roman: Yes, we basically spent the first wave of the pandemic finishing Smilovický Mlýn.
Zuzana: Every cloud has a silver lining. There was less work in Prague, so it was time to devote more time to the mill. We stayed with the children nearby at our cottage. My husband had a background and he had us here. I would say that the coronavirus era forced people not to go abroad so much and they were looking for nice places in the Czech Republic.
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Are you inspired somewhere? I guess the reconstruction of the mill is no fun.
Zuzana: The husband had it in his head for fifteen years, so there were some plans.
Roman: It’s such an American fashion, saying we had a team. But we were incredibly lucky with the people we managed to surround. We had fantastic designers, guys from Ukraine, who helped us build it all. We approached a great interior designer. The sum of these values can be seen in the overall result. It was our dream, it cost a lot of energy and money. It is such a dream come true for me and our family. My dad, who unfortunately did not live to see the completion, also helped us a lot. At the same time, it is still just a house that needs to be filled with content. We do not operate it as a guest house, but as a house for rent. We support people from culture who want to do their events, workshops or activities for companies here.
Do you still have any plans with the mill?
Zuzana: The idea was not to build a house on which we will earn rent. We have a relationship with this place and we wanted to build a space where people with similar interests will meet. We look forward to the arrival of people who will inspire us. Ten years ago, when nothing was standing here yet, we had the idea of workshops that we would enjoy doing. I had small children, but my husband was already running a ceramic or blacksmith’s course here in the summer. These crafts also appeal to us and entertain us. Smilovický Mlýn offers facilities and the opportunity to meet people. Whether they are yogis, theater performers or dancers.
Roman: Now there should be art school students studying painting.
Zuzana: We also had the opportunity to get to know our tenants, because when we accommodate them, we also go to see them.
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