Polenovo is an estate on the high, wooded bank of the Oka River, and it is the Russian countryside of a painter's imagination. Vasily Polenov, a landscape artist of the late nineteenth century, bought the land in the 1890s and designed a house in a fanciful, medieval style, with a tower and wide terraces, where he lived and worked among fellow painters. The estate is now a museum-reserve, with the house, a church he designed and a gallery, and the surrounding landscape, a bend of the Oka with meadows and birch groves, looks very much as it did in his paintings.
The view from the terrace is the point. The Oka curves far below, wide and slow, with willows along its banks, and the far shore rolls away in soft blue distance, the kind of scene Russian painters tried to capture. In summer the meadows are full of wildflowers, in autumn the birches turn gold, and in winter the river freezes, with snow-covered banks. The nearby town of Tarusa, a gentle riverside settlement, became a refuge for writers and artists, and the poet Marina Tsvetaeva spent her childhood summers here.
The ride is relaxed. From Serpukhov or Tarusa, narrow country roads wind through villages, fields and pine woods, past wooden houses with carved window frames and wells. The surface varies, with good asphalt on main roads and patchy, sometimes broken pavement on the lanes, and the ferry or bridge crossings over the Oka can mean waits. Weekends in summer bring crowds of visitors to the museum, so early morning or a weekday is best, and rain turns unpaved lanes to mud quickly.
There are no big services at Polenovo itself, just a cafe near the entrance, so fill up in Tarusa, Serpukhov or Protvino. The best months are late May to September, with September particularly lovely, when the light is soft and the woods are turning. Winters are cold and snowy, and the estate is open year-round, but the roads are icy. Take your time, walk through the park, and watch the sun go down over the river.