In 1974 there was a need for a new innkeeper on Šmarna gora. Miha Ledinek – 23 years old at that time and his wife Jožica did not hesitate to take on this challenge, at the same time found a place to live and went with their 2-year-old daughter Špela to live on Gora. In many aspects living on Šmarna gora at that time was idyllic: no phone, far away from civilisation, with individual visitors during the week and a few more over the weekend, with horse Cveto for delivery of goods, but at the same time without water installed in the inn, a too small water reservoir (the water had to be carried on shoulders to Šmarna gora) and with pit toilets. For the inn to decently function they have arranged the basic infrastructure in the first years: they installed the running water in the inn, built a water reservoir and installed the rainwater gutters to collect it, made new toilets and paved the muddy courtyard between the inn and the bar outside. Cveto has grown too old and was substituted by jeep Willis and later on a tractor.
In 1977 the second daughter Ana Nuša was born. On Gora they have intermixed the family life with working at Gostilna Ledinek with great care. The inn grew more and more popular. They decided that the inn will mostly offer Slovene traditional dishes and today we still stick to this principle. We are aware that it is easier to satisfy the tastes of our guest as anywhere in the valley, but the care and maintainance of the inn take a lot more energy. The Šmarna gora innkeeper's role from the starts was namely never limited solely to the restaurant activities.
By leading the inn business Miha and Joži Ledinek put their efforts also into arranging the whole Šmarna gora church, camp and inn complex, took care of the weather station, paved the road and the trails to Gora, rang the bell in Šmarna gora bellfry, took care of the flowers, animals and waste disposal, picked herbs for tea, cleaned the surroundings of the top so that the plants did not overgrow it, picked trash over the Šmarna gora slopes, prepared wood and bundles for heating purposes, arranged children's playground and provided for accompaning cultural and sport events.
Step by step they renovated the rooms. At first they renovated the electric installation and water installation with reservoir. The first major renovation goes back to the year 1988, when the refurbished the older part of the inn. The renovation was carefully monitored by the Institute for the protection of Cultural heritage of Slovenia as the building in protected as a cultural heritage. In 1999 they have decided for a thorough renovation of the outside »stands«. Today there behind the classic shingle covered roof one can find a modern kitchen, warehouse and a bar.
On Gora we take care also for a gallery, occasionally we show the guests the walls and the church, we organise different cultural and sports activities on the top.
We have been proud of our family Gostilna Ledinek on the top of Šmarna Gora for more than 35 years.