Blatna Castle

Blatna is a water castle - built on marshy ground and ringed by a broad moat fed by the Lomnice, so it stands on what is effectively an island reached by a bridge. The core is Gothic of the fourteenth century with a late Gothic palace added around 1500, attributed to Benedikt Ried, who built the Vladislav Hall in Prague; the Rozmital wing carries his characteristic window and vault detailing. Later owners added Renaissance and neo-Gothic work. Inside are furnished rooms with family portraits and collections. The park around the moat, about forty hectares laid out in the English manner in the nineteenth century, holds a herd of fallow deer that are entirely habituated to people and will approach for food, which is what most families come for and which the castle sells feed pellets to support. There are old oaks and a network of water channels.

What you actually see

• A moated island castle - reached by a bridge across water on all sides.
• Benedikt Ried's wing - late Gothic detailing by the Vladislav Hall architect.
• Furnished rooms - portraits and family collections inside.
• Habituated fallow deer - in the forty-hectare English park around the moat.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Interiors are guided and seasonal. The deer are tame enough to crowd visitors - feeding is only with the pellets sold on site. The park gets busy on warm weekends.

Nearby

Strakonice is south; Pisek is east.