Here, only thirty minutes driving distance away from St. Petersburg, you find yourself in the midst of a fairy tale, the Russian Village of Shuvalovka. In 1714, Peter I gave this land to a community of farmers with a Finnish name Korkuli, numbering five homesteads. The estate changed hands many times over centuries. One of the owners was Count Ivan Shuvalov. Only the name of the plot of land reminds us of Shuvalov's estate nowadays.
     The original design of the Shuvalovka Village was recently recovered from the archives, and reconstruction began. There was no hotel, museum, or restaurant here in Shuvalov's time. Nowadays visitors to this hospitable Russian Village are welcomed to the Crafts Center, the Traditional Hut, Blacksmith's and Potter's workshops, a hotel, and a restaurant.

     Maslianoi Lug (Butter Meadow)
     Butter Meadow takes up a substantial part of Shuvalovka, which occupies eight and a half hectares of land. It is not known how it was used in the past, but today Maslianoi Lug (Butter Meadow) is the perfect site for active recreation, featuring costumed festivals, popular athletic tournaments, fairs and music events all year round.

    The Chapel of the Nativity of Our Lady
     With the blessing of Vladimir, the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, a chapel is constructed in Shuvalovka, dedicated to the Nativity of Our Lady. Sermons are held to mark major religious holidays, but the rites of baptism and wedding take place on days sanctified by the Orthodox Church.

     Shuvalovka's hospitable restaurant will welcome you to sample its traditional Russian food and beverages, listen or perhaps even dance to Russian folk music. Its interior is designed to resemble a traditional Russian village hut with wooden benches, a large table covered with a canvas tablecloth, clay pots, and an old poker by the stove. Sobranie's extensive menu lists about 120 dishes prepared according to ancient Russian recipes.

     Crafts Center
     You cannot leave Shuvalovka empty-handed, without any gifts or souvenirs. Visit the Crafts Center, which has all the arts and crafts of Russia on display: varnished miniatures, brooches, jewelry, and lacquer boxes from Mstera and Fedoskino, all kinds of downy shawls, valuable fur hats, traditional Matryoshka stacking dolls, Khokhloma and Gzhel painted tableware, not to mention clay and wrought-iron artifacts created onsite by Shuvalovka craftsmen.
     You can learn a traditional craft here, such as making rustic toys, jewelry, or talismans from bast, birch bark, willow twigs, or beads, traditionally crafted in Russia for Orthodox religious holidays.

     Blacksmith's and Potter's Workshops
    Two separate peasant huts located next to each other are the kingdom of craftsmen. You can stand and watch them forge, mold, or paint wonderful things, or you can unleash your inner craftsman. Under the careful instruction of a professional you can make a pot or a clay toy, or forge a real horseshoe to hang above your doorstep for good fortune. Even if you are not that sentimental, stop by the Craft Center; the craftsmen will appreciate your attention.

     Traditional Peasant Hut
     The exact replica of a well-to-do 19th-century Novgorod peasant dwelling, the Traditional Russian Hut will playfully acquaint you with the popular customs, rites, and festivals of Russia. The Russian stove with a sleeping bench big enough for a large peasant family, the spinning wheel, spindle, oven forks and other cast-iron implements are not merely rustic relics of the past collected by ethnographers. They are ready to come to life in your tour guide's story or the skilled hands of the hostess.

    Unlike Holland, Russia is not the land of windmills, but there's one in Shuvalovka. Built according to an old drawing from Count Shuvalov's archives, it stands on a hill, towering above the scenery. Windmill, which can be seen for miles around, is a landmark for guests coming from the city, showing the way to the village. When the guests, who have just driven through Strelna and admired the new Konstantinovsky Palace, spot Windmill they know where to turn off the main road to enter the hospitable Russian Village of Shuvalovka through its open gate.