The first mention of the game preserve dates from 1585, when pheasants were kept in the area around Sudoměřice. The Černice game preserve was established a year later by Petr Vok, who used land where his serfs lived for this purpose. In order to create the original game preserve measuring 11 km x 4.4 km, the villages of Černice, Benešov and Obrovka were abolished and their inhabitants were moved to the new settlement of Nová Ves. In 1558 Petr Vok purchased farmsteads in Vyhnanice and Březnice for use by the game reserve.

 

The game preserve has always been used mainly for keeping wild boar, fallow deer and red deer. Fallow deer have been kept here since 1817. Originally the preserve occupied an area of 4500 ha. In 1781 its size was reduced and today it covers slightly more than 2000 ha. It contains six large fishponds. The best-known is Rytíř, which is used for recreational purposes, and the others include Starý, Nový, Velký Vyhnanický and Panianin. The preserve extends along the road from Bechyně to Soběslav near Sudoměřice. In 1971 the enclosure around the Černice game preserve was abolished.

Part of the Černice game preserve was declared to be a protected natural area in 1933. It covers an area of 11.51 ha near the Černice hunting lodge and former gamekeeper's lodge (today the golf course) not far from Sudoměřice. It is one of the oldest nature reserves in the country, because it was protected by the owner from 1880 onwards. It is an overmature stand of Scots pines, pedunculate oaks and silver firs, with an extensive undergrowth of European hornbeams in the southern part of the reserve. The protected natural area is part of a natural park which has the same name. The locality is particularly interesting from the entomological point of view, as it is home to a number of dipterous and beetle species. For this reason the old wood from fallen trees is removed as little as possible.

 

 

 

It lies 7 km east of Bechyně on the southern edge of the Černice game preserve. This late Baroque building was constructed for Count Václav Paar by the Prague architect J.J. Wirch in 1765-1766.

As early as 1880 one of the oldest nature reserves in the Czech lands was established in part of the game preserve.

Today you can find a recently built golf course next to the hunting lodge.

The smallish Baroque building is also known by the name Hvězda (Star) because it has the shape of a three-pointed star. Three single-storey wings are attached to the main six-sided hall. Above the entrance is the emblem of the Paar family and the date 1766.

 

 

 

About 1 km east of the hunting lodge an old building with the appearance of a small castle has been preserved. Originally it had a tower. The building contains older masonry and has been reconstructed in the Baroque style. According to an oral tradition it is most probably the original fortress of the lords of Černice. The village of Černice was abolished when the game preserve was established by Petr Vok and the fortress was probably used as a hunting lodge for the game preserve at that time.

At present the building is used as the Golf Guesthouse for patrons of the golf course of the First South Bohemian Golf Club.