Every design for Grodzisk Mazowiecki

Grodzisk Mazowiecki sits on the western edge of the Warsaw metropolitan area, with Milanówek right next door to the east and the little Rokicianka and Mrowna rivers running through town. Commuter life sets the rhythm: the Warsaw–Vienna line passes through, and the Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa ends its run here. For a breather there are the ponds of Stawy Walczewskiego and Stawy Goliana, the small Kniaziówka lake to the south and the shade of Park im. hrabiów Skarbków.

What gives Grodzisk its character is its past as a place to recover. Around the turn of the twentieth century it was known as a recreation centre with a hydropathic establishment, and named villas such as Willa "Foksal", Willa "Niespodzianka" and Willa "Radogoszcz" still set the tone of its streets. The town grew from a medieval village on the edge of the Jaktorowska Forest, lost its municipal rights after the January Uprising and won them back later, and Szwedzkie Góry keep traces of far older settlement.

Dwór Skarbków (Mokronoskich), the manor of the counts who shaped the modern town, is the image to take with you: solid, unhurried and entirely Grodzisk.