Choi Champandaek (House of Choi Champan), Hadong

On a hillside above the wide Akyang plain in Hadong, at the foot of Jirisan, stands a house that first existed only in a novel. Choi Champandaek recreates the family home of Choi Seo-hui, heroine of Park Kyung-ni's epic novel Toji (The Land), with 14 hanok buildings and a hamlet of thatched cottages below. Sit on the wooden veranda of the men's quarters and the Pyeongsa-ri plain, where the novel opens, spreads out before you with the Seomjin River beyond.

The novel came first

Toji opens at the Chuseok harvest festival of 1897 in Pyeongsa-ri and follows its characters to Korea's liberation in 1945. Park Kyung-ni (1926–2008) wrote it over 25 years, from 1969 to 1994. She wanted a setting in Gyeongsang Province because of the dialect her characters speak, and chose Pyeongsa-ri for its broad plain, a rarity in that mountainous region. So this is not a real aristocratic house but one built after the book. Hadong County recreated the house and village in the early 2000s to turn the novel's fame into a visitor attraction, and SBS's historical drama Toji (2004–2005) and many other dramas and films have been shot here.

What to look for

• Sarangchae and its veranda: The men's quarters have the best view in the compound, with the plain laid out below the edge of the wooden floor.
• Anchae, kitchen and sauce jars: The women's quarters recreate the household of a late-Joseon landowning family. The kitchen with its wood-fired stoves and the platform of earthenware sauce jars bring the novel's daily life to mind.
• Pond and pavilion: A separate annex, the byeoldang, stands by a pond fringed with willows. In the novel Seo-hui's mother lives in the byeoldang, so readers of Toji tend to linger here.
• Thatched village: Below the main house are the cottages of the tenant farmers and villagers from the story. The height difference between the tiled mansion and the thatched roofs mirrors the social gap at the heart of the novel.
• Pyeongsa-ri Literature Museum: Follow the bamboo path behind the house to reach it. It displays material on the novel and the TV drama, along with Park Kyung-ni's other works.

The married pines

Look down from the veranda and you will see two pine trees standing side by side in the middle of the fields. They lean together like an old couple, so locals call them the "married pines" (bubusong). Villagers have long known the plain as Mudimi-deul. Akyang-myeon was certified as a Cittaslow (slow city) in 2009, and every autumn the Toji Literary Festival takes place around the house.

Tripto tips

• Tickets: Admission is charged. Fees and opening hours can change, so check Hadong County's tourism information before you go. There is a car park.
• Time needed: Allow 1–2 hours for the house, the thatched village and the literature museum. From the car park you walk up the village lane to the house.
• When to go: Late spring, when the fields turn green, and October, when the rice turns gold, are the most rewarding. The literary festival is held in October, and in spring you can combine the visit with the cherry-blossom road towards Hwagae.
• Getting there: From Hadong-eup, follow the Seomjin River towards Hwagae and turn off into Akyang-myeon. By public transport, take a county bus towards Akyang from Hadong Bus Terminal, but services are infrequent.
• Nearby: Hwagae Market and Ssanggyesa Temple are about 20 minutes away by car.