Sokołowo

From the letters written by Fryderyk Chopin we know that he stayed in Sokołowo several times to visit Jaś Białobłocki, a friend of his, who was 5 year older than Fryderyk. In 1824 and 1825 Sokołowo belonged to Antoni Wybraniecki, Jaś’s stepfather an a second husband of Katarzyna Białobłocka nee Zbijewska. In his letter written in Warsaw shortly before leaving, Frycek exclaimed “Oh, I feel the smell of Sokołowo!”. In other letter written in Sokołowo at the end of holidays Fryderyk regretted not having met his friend there and justified himself being late.

Sokołowo has been known since 1386 and its owners chose the family name of Sokołowski in the half of the 15th century. At the end of the 16th century Sokołowo and its Golub Suburbs also referred to as Dobrzyń upon the Drwęca river and Białkowo were owned by a wealthy and influential family of Działyński, who held the property in their possession until 1795. Since 1811 Sokołowo had been governed by the Białobłocki family and since 185 it had been in the possession of the Wybraniecki family. In 1834 childless Antoni Wybraniecki granted the property to Antoni Borzewski of Ugoszcz, because he was afraid of his property seizure as a penalty for his participation on the November Uprising. Since 1853 the Brudnicki family owned the property and after 1866 it was passed over to the Płoski family. Before the war, Sokołowo was a prosperous property owing to breeding of horses, pheasants, partridges and organised bird hunting. In order to commemorate the birth of Paweł, a son of Aleksander and Wanda Płoski, the last owners of Sokołowo erected a shrine, which can still be found near the manor house.

After the WWII, the property was taken over by PGR [State Agricultural Farm] and presently the area of 500 ha is owned by the Agricultural Property Agency of State Treasury and leased by a company, which converted the palace into a hotel and deal with breeding of pheasants, partridges and cultivation of the leased land.