Vogtsbauernhof (Black Forest Open-Air Museum)

The museum itself is excellent, basically a collection of old farmsteads from across the New Forest area all transferred and rebuilt on site. We spent seven hours there so we must have enjoyed it. The layout of these huge combined houses and barns is ingenious. The building often had corridors surrounding the house and barn so you didn’t have to go outside to tend the animals. The top floor could be driven into so you had all you machinery there above you. The houses are built using the shelter of the hills for weather protection and giving ground level access at multiple levels. These are built for you to hibernate for winter. This is the design still used in Switzerland and the Black Forest. Mind you life was hard, I always get annoyed at people who hark on about the good life of yesteryear, I’m certainly happy I’m living now.

We parked at the car park for the Museum and we were allowed to stay for 24 hours so we slept there as well. No services but for a car park fee of 3€ and museum entrance fee of 10€ each then not too bad a deal. After the visitors had gone the car park was transformed from, well, a car park to a beauty spot and all we could hear was the babbling brook behind that van.