diff --git a/tests/env-file-tests/.env b/tests/env-file-tests/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c167ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/env-file-tests/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+ZZVAR1='This value is overwritten by env-file-tests/.env'
+ZZVAR3='This value is loaded from env-file-tests/.env'
diff --git a/tests/env-file-tests/.gitignore b/tests/env-file-tests/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e157843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/env-file-tests/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# This overrides the repository root .gitignore (ignoring all .env).
+# The .env files in this directory are important for the test cases.
+!.env
+!project/.env
diff --git a/tests/env-file-tests/project/.env b/tests/env-file-tests/project/.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc2c0ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/env-file-tests/project/.env
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+ZZVAR1='This value is loaded but should be overwritten'
+ZZVAR2='This value is loaded from .env in project/ directory'