Saturday, August 15, 2009

New Friends - they live at a WOW Place!



We left home 12am sharp.
After making sure the horses were fed and happy in their (big) stalls...

The picknick basket filled with water, canned pineapple, sandwiches and food for Cleo.

The drive was wonderful, the weather a charm.

By Växjö, about 2 hours from home, we took a "pit stop" and gave Cleo her late lunch.
Then we continued up north about 30 more km.


We just needed to make one phone call to our friend - we were not lost, but we had just taken the last turn one road sign too early.
But that didn't matter, we were still good, just that we would come from the other direction.

Just the moment we pulled up to our new friends driveway it started raining...
Luckily not for long.

The welcome was warm and the coffee just right.
Apfelstrudel with whipped cream - vanilla flavoured.
Really delicious!

:)))))

After the coffee we got the grand tour of the property.
The house, big old barn, the guest house, the stable, the horses, the lake and the earth cellar.

The first part of the tour was given by our new friend (and her adorable dog Bessy), but when our friends husband came home, they continued to show us around together.

After that we went back in and they fixed us a delicious dinner!

Such nice people!!!

(AND THEY SPEAK GERMAN! - They moved to Sweden a long time ago though, more or less)


We had a wonderful afternoon and evening and left for home around 9pm.
Our (silly) navigation system "took us" home on a different route, but we didn't see much anyways cause it gets dark quite early already.


Back home around 11pm, we checked on our boys, gave them some more hay and filled up the water buckets.
After getting in the house, we didn't stay up much longer.
It was time for a good night sleep...




Here a series of photos from our lovely afternoon in Nöbbele:





Here you see the farm, it's situated right at one of the many lakes in the area.





The drive up there was really nice.




That's their house, SO NICE!




The old bakehouse, now tool shed.




A VERY old barn.




The barn will be renovated some...




Some impressions from inside the barn...






Still inside of the barn...




One of the windows of the summer guest cabin/house. The bench looks very inviting to sit down and watch the birds and horses.




The lake is full with water lilies. (A delicacy for moose!)
It's not a very deep lake. We were told that during a famine a long long time ago, people used to drain the lake and used the land to plant extra grain to feed their families.
After the famine was over, the area got flooded again.
So interesting!










We met the horses Memory (26yrs old Nordsvensk Coldblood mare), Winston ( i think Nordsvensk Mix) and...




Milton (Irish Tinker)




View from the lake/pastures back to the house/farm.




One of their cats, sorry, his name didn't stick with me..




18 months old "Bessy" - or "Bessie" - or ??? ;-) (Fauve de Bretagne - if I got it right)





An old mowing machine serving as a jardinière.




And at last we were shown the old earth cellar, currently occupied by many many spiders...



and their brood, still in silk cocoons.




Kinda creepy, just hanging 10 cm over your head! Brrrr....



***



The tour is now over... Thank you for your attention!

Please come back...




:))


The area north of Växjö is really very attractive, who knows, maybe we'll live there some day...
we are absolutely considering it!


;-)

6 comments:

  1. Wow! Absolutely beautiful. I love farm houses and barns--especially old barns. Loved seeing the interior. Everything is picturesque. But.....that spider is HUGE. At least she looks huge in the photo. Very cool seeing the hanging spider nests.

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  2. I just have to say that I LOVE the picture of Midas that you have in your banner. God, how I miss that horse, I miss how he used to lay his really, really big head on my shoulder when I was spending time with him.

    I really hope I get the chance to see him again someday!

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  3. What a wonder full trip and a wonderful photo documentary!! I loved it while I sip my lovely hot coffee first thing in the morning. The old root cellar was kinda creepy with all those spider sacs everywhere..I'm impressed you went in. :)

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  4. Gorgeous pictures and the horses are fabulous. The Irish Tinker looks much like a Gypsy Vanner.

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  5. Omigod! They are living my dream. Thank you for sharing this. xoxox

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  6. Thanks for taking us on a tour of this magnificent farm. Love the horses too.

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