Lauenhagen

 Sunday 16/06/24

We arrived at our house-sit on Friday afternoon and had a lovely evening with our hosts before they flew to Canada, as a start to their five week US tour.

Our host restores antique juke-boxes.  They are amazing!

We're looking after Molly, an introverted Romanian rescue 'brakkie', Filou, a very loud cat, 9 or so chickens,  and also about a million bees, who luckily carry on without any input from us.  

W also have some sheep with lambs on the property but there is a shepherd who comes to take care of them, so they just follow me around to see what has dropped on the compost heap.  The chickens are currently delivering around six eggs a day,  so we are going to have to find neighbours to help us with the consumption!           

Filou and Molly playing hard-to-get on day 1

Luckily they soon warmed to us.

Molly - once she decided to join us on our walks. 😆

Molly hit a serious depression for the first day and a half, refusing to go for walks or even eat.  She was definitely missing her owners but has luckily now accepted us and is back to her normal routine.  Filou accepted us immediately, like most cats do once they realise we provide the food, and then did the next thing most cats do when we look after them - she disappeared for a day!  Toni and I had been searching the property and the massive house for hours when she casually strolled down from upstairs somewhere - knowing full well that she isn't allowed upstairs!

This nearby historic farmhouse was relocated from it's original site a few years ago
(in one piece) and is now used as a cultural centre.

It's a really interesting property filled with antiques of all description; the house itself being more than 120 years old.  The weather hasn't been kind so far so we've tested the masonry stove (as opposed to a conventional fireplace) and are very impressed.  You light a fast fire of logs and then let the fire burn down, closing the flue to circulate the hot gasses through the benches and shelves around the fireplace.  This absorbs the heat and releases it slowly into the house over the next day or so - amazing output for a very small amount of wood. 

The masonry stove is a massive structure although the fire itself is quite small.
The black mark is from smoke if you don't get it to pull properly when starting. 

We're starting to settle in here and are looking forward to getting to know this area better. 

Bonus pic:-

This is why we love house-sitting!