The Estate · The Valley
The Embūte valley
Held by the Curonians, taken in 1244, and quiet ever since. Staghorn Estate has hunted it for a generation.
This is the one page where length is a feature. Everything that follows is true, and most of it is older than the country the valley sits in.
The ground
The ice left, and the valley stayed
More than 100 hectares of mixed Kurzeme forest, unfenced on every side. The deer here are wild, and they leave when they choose to.
The ice retreated from this part of Kurzeme about ten thousand years ago and left a valley cut deeper than anything around it — a fold of hilly forest inside the Embūte Nature Park, with springs, a stream, and slopes steep enough that you hunt them on your feet.
That topography is the reason the hunting is what it is. Flat forest hides deer. A valley moves them, gives you wind to read and ground to climb, and turns a stalk into something that takes a morning rather than a stroll.
The castle mound
A hill the Curonians would not give up easily
At the centre of the valley is a hillfort — a Curonian stronghold that held out against the crusading Order longer than most. The people who built it are the reason there is a place-name here at all.
Historical detail on this page is to be confirmed against a Latvian heritage source before publication.
1244
The year the castle fell
Dietrich von Grüningen took the castle for the Livonian Order in 1244 and the Germans called the place Amboten. Stone came later, and after that the Bishops of Courland, who left their name on it.
What remains is a low broken wall on a wooded rise, and if you walk out from the manor before dawn in September you will pass within a hundred metres of it on your way to the high seat.
A legend
Indulis and Ārija
There is a story about a Curonian called Indulis and a German girl named Ārija. Everyone here tells it slightly differently, which is usually a sign that a story is old.
We will not settle the argument for you. Ask your guide on the fourth evening, when the fire is lit and there is time, and you will get his version.
Where it is
The valley, and how to reach it
| From | Distance | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Rīga (RIX) | ~190 km | 2h45–3h |
| Palanga (PLQ), Lithuania | ~60–80 km | ~1h15 |
| Liepāja (LPX) | ~35–45 km | ~40 min |
| Ventspils | ~100 km | ~1h30 |
Coordinates ≈ 56.506 N, 21.819 E. Distances approximate and confirmed with live routing before travel.
Today
Walking the valley
Between sits, and for anyone in the party who is not hunting, the valley is a place to walk. A marked trail runs from the manor past the mound and the ruin, through the oldest of the forest and back along the stream.
What you see that isn't game is much of the point: black storks, cranes in the wet ground, the light changing an hour at a time.
Come and see it in September
Nine guests a season, one guide each. When you are ready, write to us and we will hold a date.
Enquire about a hunt