In May, we drove out to Várbalog to take care of one of those jobs that comes with having a house in the countryside: cutting the grass. By then, the garden had become very green and rather overgrown, so there was plenty to do.
We bought the house sometime in 2021. It was a period when Budapest property had become increasingly expensive and many buyers were looking beyond the capital for more space at a price they could still manage. The difference was considerable: the Hungarian National Bank reported that in the second quarter of 2020, the median transaction price was HUF 28 million in Budapest, compared with HUF 12 million in rural towns and HUF 5 million in smaller municipalities. Prices continued to rise in 2021, including outside Budapest, so country properties were hardly a secret bargain by then.
Várbalog is a small village of only a few hundred residents in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, close to the Austrian border. It belongs to the Mosonmagyaróvár district and lies about nine kilometres northwest of Jánossomorja. The countryside around it is very flat and open, with fields stretching almost uninterrupted towards the horizon. In May, some were bright with flowers, while red poppies edged others. A small historical curiosity: early records referred to the settlement as Váras-Balog and also Csütörtökhely—two names used long before the modern Várbalog.
The practical reason for this particular trip was the garden. The lawn needed mowing, and the taller grass around the trees and edges had to be cut back. A country house may sound peaceful and romantic, but the grass does not care how far away its owners live or how busy they have been. Leave it alone for long enough and it simply takes over.
Fortunately, the visit was not all work. The cherry tree was already carrying dark red fruit, and we were able to pick some while we were there. There is something particularly satisfying about eating cherries directly from a tree in your own garden. They may not have been perfectly uniform like supermarket fruit, but they did not need to be.
Trips to Várbalog often contain this mixture: a long list of things that need attention, followed by a few quiet moments that remind us why we wanted the house in the first place. On this May day, it was the open fields, the newly cut grass and a handful of cherries.
