Apartma Zidanca Bele

The Zidanca Bele is at Veliki Rigelj, a settlement of a few dozen residents in the municipality of Dolenjske Toplice, in Lower Carniola. It is not the spa village: it is the vine-covered hill above it, at a little over three hundred metres of altitude, where the road runs between dry-stone walls and rows of vines and the zidanice, the vineyard houses, line up one after another. The centre of Dolenjske Toplice with its thermal baths and its first places to eat is about four kilometres away, Ljubljana airport ninety. The Gace ski area is a few kilometres away and in summer becomes ground for hiking and mountain biking; a little further on there are the Kocevski Rog forest and, to the south, Bela krajina with the river Kolpa.

The house was renovated recently and is let as a whole unit: fifty square metres for two people, with a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen with a fridge and an oven, a bathroom with a shower, a flat-screen television, a balcony, a terrace and a view over the greenery. Linen and towels are included. The host's photographs show light interiors with wooden ceilings, and guests who have stayed report two wood-burning stoves that serve both to heat the place and to make atmosphere. Outside there are the masonry barbecue with a sink, the pergola, a hanging chair under the canopy and the lawn that drops towards the vineyard. The private parking is free and is in front of the house, the wifi is included and there are a ski store and bicycles for hire.

The wellness provision is a private sauna for the exclusive use of those staying, inside the apartment: it is not a wellness centre and there are no pools. The host publishes no rule on swimwear, which in a private sauna would in any case have nobody to apply to.

On age one has to be precise, because it is the reason the house belongs in this catalogue. The property is run by a private host and has no traceable official website: the source of this page is therefore the booking portal. The portal, in the children's conditions, writes that children are not allowed, and adds that no cots or extra beds are available. Under the heading of the minimum age for check-in, however, it states that none is required. The result is that nobody publishes a threshold in figures: it is known that minors are not admitted, it is not known at which exact year the host sets the boundary. Anyone travelling with a seventeen-year-old, or in a borderline situation, should have the answer put in writing before booking.

The other rules are just as clear-cut. Smoking is not allowed, parties and events are not held, the house does not accept stag or hen parties, and pets are not allowed: here the property denies it explicitly, so this is not a silence but a ban. Arrival is between 10.00 and 22.00, departure between 8.00 and 14.00, and the time of arrival must be given in advance; at check-in a photographic document and a credit card are requested. The languages declared are Slovene and English.

It suits two people who are looking for silence and no hotel life, with the sauna in the house and the possibility of cooking, and who use the car to reach the thermal baths, the Kolpa or the paths of the Rog. It suits less those who want services, places to eat within walking distance or an animal in tow.