Dacha: A Love Story

Text and photos by Tatyana Sikorskaya
Translation by Kat Tancock
Originally published in Takie Dela

Even if you’ve never had one. Even if you’re adamant about having nothing to do with those who, every May, tenderly embracing boxes of seedlings, travel to the other end of the Earth to swing a spade in exchange for radiculitis, a sunburnt nose and bug bites – you’re still from there. The dacha is a part of nearly every Russian childhood. Almost every Russian has a dacha history within them.

In many countries, people own second homes in rural areas. But a dacha is nothing like a country home or summer cottage in the south of Britain or on the Italian coast.