Manor House in Starbienin

In the 14th century, in the court documents of the Lębork region, Peter von Sterbenin was fined one mark for failing to meet his obligations on time. In 1437, Starbienino was mentioned as a Kashubian peasant settlement belonging to various Pomeranian families, including Krockow and von Wittke. In 1756, part of Starbienino belonged to Karl von Dargolewski, and the rest was owned by the regent of the legal chancellery from Lębork, von Paraski. During this period, the spatial arrangement of the estate began to take shape. A manor house was built in the manorial part, and a landscaped garden was established around a small pond. A farmyard was placed on the western side of the manor courtyard, where new agricultural buildings were erected. Lime trees were planted at the entrance to the estate, serving both as decoration and for agricultural purposes. In 1871, the estate was purchased by the wealthy Hammer family. Ten years later, the entire estate passed to the widow of the main owner, who came from the wealthy and well-known von Wittke family in Pomerania, along with two sons. They built a new manor house in the style of an Italian villa with a recessed porch and a lookout tower, called a belvedere. This name was apt, as "belvedere" in Italian means "beautiful view," and the view from it was indeed breathtaking. The previous manor likely served as shelter for poor relatives or servants and may have been slated for demolition because its location could interfere with the expanding farmyard. Additionally, some of the old agricultural buildings were replaced with new ones. The entrance to the farmyard was paved with cobblestones, and a second entrance was constructed with a stone driveway leading to the manor building. A new natural composition with numerous exotic trees was created in the park section of the estate. After the war, the manor was nationalized and became part of the State Agricultural Farm. It was later transformed into a holiday resort and ultimately abandoned. Fortunately, in 1995, it was handed over to the Kashubian University of People's Education, which established an Environmental Education Center there. A small, old park with ponds and romantic alleys grows around the manor.