CAMP ORGANIZERS
My name is Szilvia Petka, and together with my husband, Gábor Baracsi, we have been venturing into crazier and crazier things since 2008. Since childhood, Gábor has been passionate about knights, fairy tales, and role-playing. One might think that this is something one outgrows, or you find a partner who feels the same way. He started the Sindeon knight adventure camp at the age of 18, and many of us, including myself, joined. As a non-profit association, we formed a great children's community, and the camp has been organized every year since 2001. Campers become returning participants for years, and some, having outgrown childhood, join us as organizers. Gábor crafts wonderful armor from aluminum, fantastic swords from wood, while I, utilizing the love for sewing passed down in my family, create costumes.
2000
ARCHITECTS
However, camp organization was just a hobby in our lives. Both of us graduated as architects from Budapest University of Technology, and until spring 2016, we worked in a design studio. During the last few years, we mainly focused on the interior design of restaurants and hotels. Although we were only watching this business from the side, we both fell in love with catering for guests and their needs.
2008
LOSI MANOR
Until 2016, we organized the camp in the little free time we had left from our architectural profession, filling our vacations and weekends. Feeling it appropriate for the knight's world, we learned to ride horses, and the world of horses captivated us. We now own five horses. Every year, we faced significant challenges in finding a location suitable for our camp. Köveskál hosted the camp for 10 years, and then we spent 3 years at Nagykovácsi Scout Park. Additionally, during shorter school breaks, our camps explored the country's most beautiful places, including Várgesztes, Cserhátszentiván, Bakonyszentlászló, to name a few. However, most camp locations were not suitable (finding a place where we could bring our horses was particularly challenging). We longed for our own place but didn't know where. This led us to Verőce. An acquaintance told us about a place in Verőce that would be ideal for us. We visited the owner, Bethlen Farkas, who had closed the venue a while ago due to lack of energy to run the farm. A conversation followed, and two months later, we closed the door of our downtown apartment, quit our architectural jobs, and moved here with our horses and dog.
2016
WEDDING VENUE
Our animal population suddenly expanded with goats, sheep, chickens, surprisingly an alpaca, and three more dogs. Finally, our camp had the perfect location. Still, the question arose of how to operate and maintain it. Fortunately, members of our association, initially campers who became organizers, empathized with us. So, we didn't embark on this journey alone. We thought that due to the location's features, it would be ideal for weddings. Although we started advertising in the spring (albeit minimally), 11 couples fell in love with the venue in the first year. Since then, we have continued enthusiastically with weddings, closing 28 in 2017, and having 38 weddings in 2023. We still enjoy the diverse company and the parties. For weddings, we decided on the following concept: one weekend for one wedding, from Friday to Sunday. Friday is for preparations and evening campfires, Saturday for the wedding party, and Sunday for recovery. We operate like a vacation home for weddings, providing complete freedom in selecting all service providers, including catering. We can accommodate festival-style food trucks or potluck weddings, but the classic solution is also common. Weekdays remain for (children's) camps and farm life, and also for weddings, Thursday weddings are becoming a huge trend! We love our goats and are making better and better cheeses. We can't wait for the little ones to be born and the milk season to start.
2017
Társa Pagony
However, development never stops with two architects leading the way. Living in the area, we found beautiful places and opened our second venue, Társa Pagony (Tarsa Woods), in August 2019. Many desired a place like the manor but smaller, more intimate, accommodating around 50 guests. We envisioned this place to be even more suitable for the camp, and we had longed to spend the night in glamping tents. Fortunately, since then, many share our sentiment, and the woods also became a success story.
2018
LÓSI MAJOR - NEW LOCATION!
I think we don't need to introduce the year 2020 – the year of the COVID - to anyone. We had a long-cherished dream of the neighboring farm in the Lósi Patak valley, a larger, more comfortable place, farther from the village (so as not to disturb residents with parties), with its pond and, most importantly, shaded trees. Although we originally planned to move in 2021, the trio of quarantine, structural issues, and greedy narrow-minded owner resulted in us opening at the new location in August 2020. Does it sound interesting? We'd love to tell you over coffee! We moved, but the team, animals, name, and everything behind it remained: a unique family-friendship business that loves guests. We welcome anyone with open arms, whether it's for a wedding, corporate team-building, family celebration, or camp. Besides closed events, we also welcome walk-in guests, but please give us a call before dropping by!
2020
TÁRSA PAGONY – NEW LOCATION!
After the relocation of Lósi Major, barely two years later, we embarked on another massive endeavor. We purchased a 20-hectare forest in Penc, a rolling pine forest with a fabulous panoramic view. Here, we built the new Társa Pagony (Tarsa Woods), realizing another old dream of ours – a perfectly off-grid, meaning utility-free, self-sustaining structure. We dismantled and relocated everything from the old venue, including the tents and even the cables. We reopened here in August 2022. Both the Manor and the Woods operate simultaneously but in two entirely separate locations, 20 kilometers apart. However, the spirit, the operating team, and the concept are the same at both locations; only the atmosphere of the landscape and the size are the distinguishing factors.