Konstantinovo Yesenin Village

Yesenin was born here in 1895 and the village is in a great deal of what he wrote - birches, the river, the church, the hay, the sense of a countryside being left behind. The museum covers his parents' house, a small wooden building with the family's things; the church of the Kazan icon where he was baptised; the manor house of Lidia Kashina, a landowner's daughter he knew and who is generally taken to be behind Anna Snegina; and a literary exhibition with manuscripts and photographs. The setting is what makes the visit: the village stands on a high bluff and the Oka floodplain opens out below and runs to the horizon, unbroken, which is a view people come for regardless of the poetry. Yesenin left for Moscow and then a life that ended in a Leningrad hotel in 1925 at thirty; he is buried in Moscow, not here.

What you actually see

• The parents' house - a small wooden building with the family's furniture.
• The Oka view - floodplain running unbroken to the horizon from the bluff.
• The Kashina manor - the house of the woman behind Anna Snegina.
• The church - the Kazan icon church where he was baptised.

When to go

May to September; the floodplain is under water in spring, which is its own sight. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Buildings are ticketed individually and entered on guided visits, usually Russian only. It is busy in summer and on Yesenin anniversaries. Buses from Ryazan are infrequent. He is buried in Moscow, so there is no grave here.

Nearby

Ryazan and its kremlin are south; the Oka runs below the bluff.