Babiččino údolí Nature reserve

Babiččino údolí is a national nature reserve and at the same time a national cultural monument in the Náchod district. It gets its name from the novel Babička, because Božena Němcová set the story of this novel precisely in this valley of the Úpy River. The landscape was first named this way in 1878 by the writer Otakar Jedlička, who worked as a doctor in Smiřice.

The valley stretches for nine kilometres along the Úpy between Česká Skalice and Slatina nad Úpou, at an elevation of between 280 and 360 metres. The climate is moderately warm and moderately humid, with an average annual temperature of 7 to 8 degrees Celsius. The southern part consists of extensive meadows in the river floodplain, bordered by forests on steep slopes. Forests dominate in the north. Part of the landscape was shaped by human activity, including landscaping modifications in the classical style, mainly around the Ratibořice château and the Hunting Pavilion.

The rugged terrain provides space for diverse flora and many rare animals. A number of species from the red list of endangered species live here. Since 2013, the monument has been part of the European significant locality Babiččino údolí – Rýzmburk. It protects the vegetation of rocky limestone slopes and mixed forests with lime and maple trees on the slopes, in screes and gorges. The springs from which travertine is deposited are also protected. Earlier intensive farming led to the disappearance of many species. More careful farming today helps to preserve those that remain.

The history of the place dates back to 1388, when the manor and village of Ratibořice are first mentioned in writing. Its owner was the knight Vaněk ze Žampachu. From 1464, Ratibořice belonged to the Rýzmburk estate and in 1582 it was purchased by the Smiřický family from Smiřice. After the Battle of White Mountain, General Adam Erdman Trčka acquired it as confiscated property. In 1634, its owner was the imperial general František Oktavián Piccolomini. Between 1702 and 1707, a single-storey baroque château with a chapel in the style of Italian country houses was built here, with a garden surrounded by a high wall.

In 1792, Petr Biron, Duke of Courland and Sagan, bought the estate. After his death in 1800, it was inherited by his daughter Kateřina Vilemína, Duchess of Sagan. Under her, most of the buildings in the valley were rebuilt. The Duchess had a small lake created, an English park that flowed freely into meadows, a hunting pavilion, a palm greenhouse and a kitchen garden by the mill. She also protected the forests on the scree slopes, avoided clear-cutting and allowed trees to grow to an old age. It was she who thus created the landscape that later came to be protected by law.

South of the valley lies the Rozkoš water reservoir. In the wider area are the towns of Náchod and Nové Město nad Metují with baroque châteaux.