Rumour had it, years ago, the BBC bought an entire deserted village, tucked away in the far western corner of the stunning Gorica Hills Brda mini region of Slovenia for a brand new reality TV programme!

Well.. all we knew when we first explored here was there was another secret gorge hidden in these wine hills somewhere to be found.. so armed with just a photo of this very pretty looking gorge, with an impossible to say name, off we trotted on a burning hot day..

the river flows off from the gorge into the Gorica Brda hills..

And we discovered a whole mini region inside a mini region to explore here, where we finally found the Krcnik Gorge, aka Cramp Gorge!   

We already knew a little about how beautiful and completely different "BRDA" (said "Burda" and means "hills") was to the rest of this little pocket rocket of a green country..

The Gorica Hills or BRDA as it is locally known is another of Slovenia's 7 wine regions, tucked away in the far west, but easily accessible from the Lodge, just a 40 min drive direct to the heart of it all!

Dobrovo Castle.. BRDA grand central

The reason it is largely undiscovered is the difficultly to get here from the hotspots such as Bled, Ljubljana and Piran.. the few places first visitors to Slovenia might have actually heard of and therefore gravitate to.. We spotted this problem immediately, (as you will when you actually get here too), and made sure we located the Lodge in exactly the right spot to easily get to everywhere worth seeing, including BRDA!!

We alredy had a few wine partners here in these Gorica wine hills, producing the golden coloured unique Rebula wine & "Tokaj" based Sauvignonasse, both now exclusive to this region!

The main local town to search for on the map to even find this mini region is called Nova Goricia, or "New" Goricia.. as the beautiful old town of "Gorica" was nicked by the Italians after WW2 and so Yugoslavia had to build a whole "new" Gorica.

you can see the top of the gorge from here, but need to go down here to get to the bottom..

To get to the heart of the BRDA region you need to aim from Nova Gorica for SMARTNO then DOBROVO and luckily for you, there are now some very good browns signs from Dobrovo to help you go find this hidden Krcnik gorge..

They are also building a few larger roads here, but you don't need us to tell you that the best way to explore and discover the magic of this mini region is to stick to the narrow little old roads and the picturesque villages..

a picture cannot do the gorge justice, make sure you see it for yourself if you do manage to get to BRDA..

Where the Devil hid his Gold.. Cramp Gorge:

Legend has it, the bad guy downstairs built a natural stone bridge here to get at his gold, hidden at the bottom of the crystal clear basin.

Unfortunately the local mayor's son jumped off the bridge, got cramp and drowned.. since then this hidden gem has been called "Cramp Gorge". We found it.. eventually.. hidden at pretty much the end of the road.

The gorge used to be very difficult to find, so we treated it as a challenge AND a great way to get to drive and explore this mini region. Like many places hidden away in Green Slovenia, once you actually try to find them, you will be confronted with more roads that you had imagined on the map and far fewer signs, but of course more green adventures too!

find this little car park and you have cracked it.. the gorge is behind here..

Getting lost and frustrated in a green paradise is not so much of a hardship, just give yourselves plenty of time.. however time is a commodity many visitors to Slovenia have totally under estimated!

Even with these handy new brown signs to help you out the roads are still very narrow, so go carefully!        

There is a tiny little car park with bench and an info sign at the gorge. This is a great place for a pick nick after you have gone down through the trees to xplore the gorge.

This is one of the smallest gorges in Slovenia, but it is a truly magical place and certainly a great place to hide your gold!

there are now very good signs to get you to the gorge..

But again, please be very careful with your footing.. There is a new metal rail to help you go down to the bottom of this stunner and even in the middle of summer this place is quite tropical, so the rocks can still be wet underfoot and slippery.

This is fortunately NOT a place for the "tick list monkeys" to come see and selfie, as you have to make an effort to get here.. It is one of the numerous secret Green places, just waiting quietly for you to go find them and treasure them.. Come here and this mini wine region will reward you with a tropical green jungle.

Close to the gorge itself up some steep little lanes are 3 deserted villages, literally at the end of the road! You cant quite believe these villages in such a lovely location could be abandoned, especially when you see the fruit trees and vineyards everywhere along the road. This is also another lovely quiet place to bring or hire a bike or to go walking. 

a little waterfall fills the upper pool..

Incredibly, but understandabubbly, these villages got abandoned over time as the locals found it too difficult to travel to work before cars. The curvy narrow roads, sometimes leading nowhere, sometimes into Italy and just a few going back to the main towns are a paradise for us visitors, but a real problem for the folks who lived here..

There are lovely spots to stop and gaze across to the abandoned villages and you won't believe that anyone could leave these pretty hilltop hamlets for the grass and tree jungle to just grow over and not even keep the houses as at least as holiday or weekend homes. 

And this is why it was rumoured the BBC would once buy up a whole village here and film Germans, Italians and Brits restoring it and arguing about stupid little things that don't really matter, but are great for TV!

slippery when wet AND slippery when dry.. go carefully..

How to Do the Gorge.. what else to see!          

The list of little places to stop off at in this mini BRDA region is, as usual for Green Slovenia, endless, depending on what you like to see and do, but think wine tasting, hiking in completely deserted countryside, castles, cute little hilltop villages and cherries.. lots of them!

This is a proper wine region, often likened to some special parts of France and there are pretty vines squeezed in EVERYWHERE.. The first Slovenian cherries of the year are also the highly cherished BRDA crop. They even have a cherry festival here, centred in Smartno, Dobrovo and the surrounding villages, but you have to be here in May.. 

entrance to the stunning medieval hilltop village of SMARTNO, St Martins..

There are lots of pretty villages dotted along the quiet, beautiful roads of the Gorica hills, including Dobrovo with cute little castle & maybe try to do donkey riding and Smartno, (St Martin), a recently restored uberstunning hilltop village with photos positioned on boards all around the village to show you what each building was like, long before the renovation.

These villages are unbelievably beautiful / unique and we urge you to seek them out and explore a bit. Do try to fan out from Dobrovo to places like VIPOLZE, with castle (open on weekends) and lots of vineyards to maybe call in at and visit. 

There are also lots of very good restaurants indeed, all around here with stunning views across the Italian foothills and also look for sleepy cafes dotted around in the many other villages.

beautiful vines stuffed with unique grapes in BRDA

Green Slovenia is NOT a place where you can just drive around and magically turn up at a vineyard with people just sitting there waiting to show you around.. The people here are busy with lots of other jobs to do.. we noticed tourism is often priority number 4 for many locals.. so you really MUST arrange your wine tasting IN ADVANCE and somehow find the people who really do want to meet, host and chat with you for a couple of hours..

We will give a special mention here to the TIC (Tourist Info Centre) in Smartno, who have created a list of local BRDA winemakers and restaurants to help you find them, to know when they are open and get to meet them.. but think about it.. if you make the mistake of just turning up in BRDA with 2 hours in your pocket, or even just an afternoon, then you will need to be incredibly lucky and organised to actually get to meet a local winemaker and have a meaningful visit..

This is why we have made the time to find friends and wine partners all over Green Slovenia who actually want to meet visitors and we make sure we call them at least a day before for our guests to help them avoid the disappointment of missing out.    

How to Do it all!

BRDA is a "tricky to find" Green treasure box, so one suggested itinerary for a fantastic visit here would be to do a round trip form the Lodge via Nova Gorica up into the BRDA hills, visiting the gorge, then maybe doing a longer loop out towards the stunning village of Kanal, in the lower Soca valley or crossing the river bridge a bit earlier at Parje.. either way returning to the Lodge via Nova Gorica and the uberstunning Vipava valley.. (So you know, it is sensationally directly one hour from the Lodge to Kanal upon Soca)!

this is where El Diablo hid his stash of gold.. might be easier digging at the end of a rainbow!

Or, you could also do the trip exactly the other way around, going from KANAL into the BRDA region, seeing the gorge, then exploring stunning Dobrovo, Smartno and returning via Nova Gorica.

And part of the BRDA region also spills over into the Italian Fruili region.. some vineyards are part in both countries! 

So also consider doing a loop from the Lodge through Brda out to the stunning Italian town of Cividale del Friuli or coming home via other numerous pretty villages in Friuli! 

and Why dont you hike or bike around BRDA!

How about taking E Bikes or parking up in hiking distance of the gorge and walking there.. wow!

the water has cut this stunning gorge passage through the Karst rock jungle..

There are numerous paths, little roads & cul de sacs all over the place and apparently the Alpe Adria route goes across here as well.. we saw a few of the signs criss crossing the roads, but most people will be happy with a little exploratory hike around here, maybe venturing down a few leafy lanes.

Just remember your way back and the name of the gorge is a warning to just look, enjoy and NOT jump in!