There was really not too much to report from August to December as we got completely caught up in domestic bliss renovating the house. I'm happy to report that the majority of projects are now completed, even putting in a new bathroom upstairs and the installation of a wood buring fire (for me to play with)! This was all a little hectic because it had to be completed before my parents arrived for Christmas, but was looking more and more like not making it as the week before Christmas neared. Well it was not painted, or furnished in time, but at least there was hot water and a functioning shower, even if my folks had to install their own towel rails!
In November I had my 10 year anniversary at SAP..... . How time flies (when you're having fun...?). Ingrid and I were treated to a dinner with all of the other 10 / 20 and even 30 year anniversaries with an entertainment show something like a indoor circus called The Palazzo. Was a good laugh despite not really knowing anyone there, but am expecting a bit more for my 20th anniversary! (maybe even a pen?). November also saw the start of the winter season with a heavy snow fall, very unusual for our part of Germany, and of course I did not yet have winter tyres on the cars, so had to do that the next day.
The first weekend in December we had a combined birthday party for friends Thomas and Charlotte and myself. We had a basement party at our place which I'd sold to Ingrid as no work, just some beers and pizza, but after cleaning out the basement, putting all of the garden utensils and machinery elsewhere and moving all of the boxes still stored downstairs, I have the feeling Ingrid no longer agreed! A great time was had by all and I got to play DJ once more and use the power of my surround sound system! Managed to fit over 40 people down there including a dance floor in the storage room and wine cellar as well as a Bavarian Beer hall style eating area in the garage. Now I just need to convince Ingrid to keep this set-up for instant parties and maybe a big screen TV or a projector..... .
The highlight of the end of the year though was two ski trips. There is more about these trips under the Skiing Section, including a short trip to Hintertux in Austria and a week with our niece Angela in Livigno in Italy with Absolute tours. Angela came alone from South Africa as an unaccompanied minor, we collected her from Frankfurt and left the next day for Bavaria. We visited the Castle Neuschwannstein, which although not all that historically significant, does attract millions of visitors each year and is said to be the castle that Disney copied for its theme parks and logo. We stopped and did the full castle tour to help break the long trip up and spent the evening nearby in Berwang (somewhere near Reutte) a small ski area. We left early in the morning for Livigno stopping in Switzerland for lunch (& for Angela to play in the snow!). We arrived without incident early afternoon and enjoyed another excellent week in the snow - see Skiing Section.
My folks and Gran came out for Christmas. we nearly had a white Christmas with some snow a few days before, but the rain washed it away before Christmas Day. While they were here we did the Christmas markets, trips out to local towns and historical sights and tried to fit in as many dog walks as the weather would permit!
We had Thomas, Charlotte and their two kids as well as Jeremiah and Tesha for Christmas lunch so it was great to have a houseful. (I now have some idea what it is like to be Catholic Jules!) Was great to see the kids opening and playing with their presents and the adults playing a 'trade' game with their gifts...., well done on introducing this mercenary addition to Christmas lunch Charlotte!
April to August 2004
Early in April we finally found the perfect house we had been searching for all along. When we saw it, we walked around the garden first, after which I told Phillip I didn't want to see the inside of the house, because I had already decided that this was the place we were going to buy, and I was scared the inside might put me off. But the inside was also "acceptable".
So after having a few architect/enginerring types check the house to make sure it was not about to fall down, we bought it. This process of course was much more complicated than it sounds, with all the formalities of visiting the bank, lawyers agents and various authorities made more challenging by having to do everything in German. But we got by, with the help of German speaking friends (thanks Eric) now and again, and the help of my dictionary at other times. Phillip's parents came to visit for the easter weekend in the middle of the decision process, and instead of doing some tourism, they got to tramp around our prospective new house looking at cobwebs and cracks in the walls.
Our house is located right on the edge of the village of Schwarzach (population 3,200), about 30 minutes drive from work for both Phillip and myself (located between Heidelberg and Heilbronn!). We have no adjoining neighbours, with the nearst house being about 150 meters away (a luxury in Germany). Our property is mostly bordered by farmers fields, which we look across to the forest from our terrace. There is an old Chicken stall in the garden which is now a dog house when we are at work.
We do adjoin the Shooting Club, which had Phillip extremely concerned at first. But we soon learned that like most other "clubs" in Germany, it is really a beer-drinking club, as we very seldom hear them shooting, and then only one or two shots, to be able to tell their wives they did shoot, before they started with the beer-drinking! Our property is 4,000 square meters (almost as large as our Bryanston house was-minus the tennis court and pool of course) so it plenty big for the dogs.
Being out in the country side we have lots of "wildlife" with numerous sightings (and the odd capture by the dogs) of hedgehogs, red squirrels, black squirrels and Phillip once saw a very large deer up against our fence. Luckily the dogs weren't there or we might have discovered if Holly really can jump our fence or not! We also have loads of fruit trees and bushes including apple, peach, pear, cherry, walnut, red/black and white currant, gooseberry, raspberry and some other we haven't identified yet. Plus an extremely large vegie patch we have not managed to cultivate yet - but that can wait for next summer - perhaps we can grow pumpkin in the autumn!
The house itself is too big for us with a ground floor (entrance hall, guest loo, lounge, diningroom, kitchen, 2 studies, main bedroom and bathroom), an upstairs (4 bedrooms and another loo) and a basement (garage, laundry room, ironing room, storage room, wine cellar, vege storage room and the utility room holding the heating system). We plan to convert one of the upstairs berdooms into a second bathroom and also seal off the upstairs as we only use it when we have guests, so we don't need to heat it in winter (or clean it that often!).
The house was built in 1958 by the late owner, whose estate we bought the house from. The owners died 2 years ago and the house had been empty since. It had become a spiders' paradise. And I would rather face a hungry lion than a tiny spider!
Schwarzach being a small town, news spread fast of the white africans who bought the house that had stood empty for 2 years after the previous owner died, and people seem to know more about us than we do! Oh well, I knew I would be famous one day. The nearest house to us is the vet, which is extremely convenient. I don't even need to get the car out to take the dogs there. The vet owns 3 horses which graze in a paddock our house overlooks, so we have a lovely view of wheat fields, horses and forrest (and the accompanying smell from time to time!
We moved into the new house at the end of June, and basically April through July involved lots of dealing beaurocary, house purchase administartion, packing, moving, unpacking, painting, DIY blah blah blah. Lots of work which one must do oneself as labour is not as cheap as in South Africa. The only excitement was our housewarming "Grillparty" at the end of July with 60 guests (40 adults and 20 kids). I didn't think we knew that many people in Germany! But it all went well and we had a good time. Again lots of work with no domestic help!
On the work front, I had my first business trip a few weeks ago, travelling to Berlin to meet with our consultants. Unfortunately it was a whirlwid visit and the only part of the city I saw was the train network and the inside of my hotel and the office building. Maybe next time. My current job / contract expires at the end of October ( I am working 5 hours a day). I have applied for the position of "Chief Accountant" which becomes vacant soon, and which I hope to get. It would be a good promotion and would get my career back to where it should have been, had we not relocated. The place is quite a mess though, and it would be challenging and loads of hard work. Plus it is a full time position which will be quite a shock for me who has been either unemployed or working part time for the last few years. I am in the process of arranging a housekeeper a few days a week so that I don't have to stay up till midnight washing floors!
I hope you are all keeping well. Please leave a message in our guestbook, so we know that you are still out there somewhere!
January to March 2004
Melbourne- My team was asked to do a presentation to a large retail customer in Australia so it suddenly became strategic enough for me to go. I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and find out why so many South African’s flock to what is basically the middle of nowhere. The client was in Melbourne and I tried to fit in a stop over in Sydney, but was happy in the end that this did not work out because I enjoyed having some time to explore Melbourne. Luckily for me Tracy lives there now (Tracy is an old family friend and emigrated from Kwa-Zulu Natal around three years ago). Immediately on arrival I saw why she finds it so special – it is so like Durban from an architectural and climate point of view (at least while I was there – and compared to living in Germany!) that until anyone opens their mouths you could easily be on the south coast. (Kaps - think that samoosas and bunny chow may not be available, but I’ll check that with Tracy for you!).
According the official website – ‘Melbourne is located at latitude 37 degrees 176 49' south longitude 144 degrees 176 58' east on the south-east edge of Australia’ (this means it is at the very bottom end of the middle of nowhere). Downtown is pretty sparsely populated and we went in on a Saturday morning and it was pretty deserted – I’m sure a very different picture weekdays when the masses come streaming in from Melbourne's 7800 sq km of suburbs spread more than 40 km to the south, are hemmed in by the picturesque Dandenong ranges 30 km to the east, extend up to 20 km to the north and sprawl across vast, flat basalt plains to the west. Since the around 3.2 million residents have collectively decided to live in suburbia, there are very few high-rises outside of the city limits creating a sprawling network of houses as far as the eye can see.
While I was there we had at least three seasons, cool and overcast on arrival, warm and raining the next day and a 43 degree stinker on the Saturday. The temperature there is generally temperate influenced by its location at the apex of one of the world's largest bays, Port Phillip. (pretty nifty that Tracy arranged to have the Bay re-named for my visit!)
Tracy was an excellent hostess, and managed to fit into one evening and a mornings tour a great overview of the city and specifically for me stops at every harbour/ marina to take pictures of sailing boats (yes missing the water here in Germany). We went out for some drinks on Friday evening and met up with some of her friends after work at Federation Square a new ‘happening place’. Pretty whacky architecture and buildings, but a great central focal point downtown. Was good to see the social, fun side of working is alive and well in other parts of the world. This is one aspect of Germany that is still very difficult to ‘adapt’ to (no mixing work and pleasure), but I’ll soon convert them all – there are only around 90 million to go! Was also good for me to see Aussies in their natural habitat and chew the fat about cricket & rugby and other sporting religions. We had an excellent Greek meal at one of the many restaurants lining the Yarra River and did a quick walk around the surrounding area including the Crown Casino. The Casino is absolutely massive and runs the length of a complete shopping centre. Imagine Sandton City with shops on the right and Casino on the left for the full length all in open plan – since I have a bad attitude towards casinos from South Africa having seen Gold Reef & Carnival City and others too recently, this seemed like a weird idea to me… .
On a glorious Saturday morning we had breakfast at one of the many marinas and then drove around the bay for at least an hour taking in the different suburbs and views over the water. I was really impressed by the bay as this is a sailors dream, a protected area of water that large and with minimal commercial shipping. As mentioned I made her stop at every opportunity to take in the views of boats (hope I was not too painful ?). Saw the MCG, Telstra Dome, Exhibition Centre and Botanical Gardens, went through the area for the Melbourne Grand Prix (was another two weeks away, but was all set up and ready to go) and really enjoyed just looking at the houses lining the bay. Prices range from really really expensive to ridiculous (even for Euro shoppers!). We then went to the observation deck on top of the Rialto Building in the centre of town (every tourist has to do this….), gives a great overview of the city and surrounds (advertised as the highest rooftop in the Southern Hemisphere).
By now it was 40 degrees and getting quite warm. Tracy introduced me to PowerJuices (was that it?) – the Aussie equivalent of making Juicy Lucy seems like a shooters bar by adding things to fruit juice to make you a better lover etc – just for the record didn’t work (I had one that was for energy and vitality….). I then did some compulsory tourist shopping – mostly to embarrass Tracy – did the complete package with a Didgeridoo for Ingrid with accompanying ‘how to’ CD and another CD with aboriginal music (will have to actually listen to it one day), and the highlight a Dryasabone. Tracy thought I was mad and had never heard of one of these. Was very sceptical at asking one of the shop assistants in this fashion shop - like I was really asking for some kind of haemorrhoid cream, but amazingly they had heard of it, and even where we could get one (even if Tracy was adamant that she has never ever seen one of these, and much worse had never seen one on someone !) It looked really cool on some sheep ranchers in the outback in movies I’d seen, but on me it is just an oily canvass raincoat. I’ve even managed to find a definition on a website - Dryasabone. - 'A heavy-duty coat, often used when riding'. All I need now is a farm and a horse, but more about that later under 'house hunting'….. .. Next they’ll be telling me that people don’t really go hunting kangaroos with boomerangs!
All too soon, had to go back to the airport and wished, I’d extended the trip and brought Ingrid along. Although Australia is far from anywhere, not unlike South Africa it does not seem to matter to those living there. I really liked the place and could easily imagine living on the bay with a ‘small’ 60 ft McGreggor Yacht in the marina (once we’ve changed the dog emigration rules….). My idea is to have all of the Aussies quarantined for 6 months to protect my dogs from their diseases, but it is apparently not PC to mention locking up Aussies en-mass – something about history and the past……. . Big thanks to Tracy for playing tour guide, if the oil industry ever gets too much, you know what else to do! Hopefully I was a good test case for the many tours you will need to host soon once Lindsey (her sister) and husband Greg hit town… .
In summary – place gets 10 out of 10, in the words of Arnie - 'I'll be back'.
Schwarzwald – Rebecca came to see us for a long weekend in March, and we left the ‘concrete jungle’ and headed for the Black Forest. We’d had quite a bit of snow recently and I’d even been skiing the night before only 50 minutes from home at Mehliskopf, so the scenery was perfect for a winter break in the forest. We stayed at a Hotel in Langenordnach, 10 minutes outside of the main tourist attraction, Titisee. Titisee is a tourist town on the edge of a quaint lake. We were stupid enough to ask at the hotel if there were still boat tours in winter, but once we got there saw that ice skating was far more likely. We did a walk around the lake, did some tourist shopping – Black forest smoked ham, dried sausages, local schnapps etc and then went tobogganing for the afternoon.
While walking around the lake we stopped for a beer and some hot chocolate, was really great to see the lake frozen over and covered in snow - now we know why the hotel owner looked at us like we were mad, when I wanted to take a boat trip!
We went back to the hotel, had some dinner and local beer and then before we could come up with excuses for going to bed early on a Saturday night (which was a major consideration proving we are becoming old farts), we went off to see the 'Hornschlittenrennen' nearby. HornSchlitten are giant toboggans for three people and this was the local championship. We missed the actual competition, but arrived in time for the bonfire with brass band, beer / gluhwein fest and fireworks display, followed by a disco outside in the snow on the mountain side, was really fun. A great break overall and good to see Becs again.
House Hunting – having updated you about the ins and outs of our vacations / movements, now time for some domestic bliss issues. We are looking to buy a house ! This is a big move for us here in Germany as we have no idea how long we will be here for, but hate living in a rented place, and it is simply too small for our 3 children who need a bigger garden. What we are looking for is a small house on its own in the forest somewhere with a large property. We have seen a few likely candidates including one we missed in a town called Grein, (because I was too slow in sorting out my tax and contract situation with SAP), but houses that are not on top of neighbours are pretty rare here.
We did find another place though, a farm house with 95 000 sq meters of land – yes a real farm in the Odenwald (complete with hay, barns and pig sty’s etc), but an hours drive to work for me. It was built in the 1600’s and is a national monument under all kinds of protection etc, but after looking into it in more detail last weekend with a building engineer, we’re too scared to take on the project of restoring the place…. . We’d need €150 000, just to make it liveable once we’d bought the place, so too scary for someone still unfairly converting to Rands…. .Was a pity, I’d had my heart set on it (Farmer Phill), but sense has prevailed (so far). The picture is taken in the roof and shows quite clearly what the walls are actually made of in a 'Fachwerk' / Tudor House. I never imagined moving to Germany to live in a grass/ mud hut! For those considering a visit, don-'t worry, a key requirement will always be a spare room, even if the walls were once processed though a cows stomach.
That's all for now, we will update you all again after Easter when my folks are coming to visit and our house hunting might be taking more shape.
There was really not too much to report from August to December as we got completely caught up in domestic bliss renovating the house. I'm happy to report that the majority of projects are now completed, even putting in a new bathroom upstairs and the installation of a wood buring fire (for me to play with)! This was all a little hectic because it had to be completed before my parents arrived for Christmas, but was looking more and more like not making it as the week before Christmas neared. Well it was not painted, or furnished in time, but at least there was hot water and a functioning shower, even if my folks had to install their own towel rails!
The highlight of the end of the year though was two ski trips. There is more about these trips under the Skiing Section, including a short trip to Hintertux in Austria and a week with our niece Angela in Livigno in Italy with Absolute tours. Angela came alone from South Africa as an unaccompanied minor, we collected her from Frankfurt and left the next day for Bavaria. We visited the Castle Neuschwannstein, which although not all that historically significant, does attract millions of visitors each year and is said to be the castle that Disney copied for its theme parks and logo. We stopped and did the full castle tour to help break the long trip up and spent the evening nearby in Berwang (somewhere near Reutte) a small ski area. We left early in the morning for Livigno stopping in Switzerland for lunch (& for Angela to play in the snow!). We arrived without incident early afternoon and enjoyed another excellent week in the snow - see Skiing Section.
My folks and Gran came out for Christmas. we nearly had a white Christmas with some snow a few days before, but the rain washed it away before Christmas Day. While they were here we did the Christmas markets, trips out to local towns and historical sights and tried to fit in as many dog walks as the weather would permit! 
We had Thomas, Charlotte and their two kids as well as Jeremiah and Tesha for Christmas lunch so it was great to have a houseful. (I now have some idea what it is like to be Catholic Jules!) Was great to see the kids opening and playing with their presents and the adults playing a 'trade' game with their gifts...., well done on introducing this mercenary addition to Christmas lunch Charlotte!
Early in April we finally found the perfect house we had been searching for all along. When we saw it, we walked around the garden first, after which I told Phillip I didn't want to see the inside of the house, because I had already decided that this was the place we were going to buy, and I was scared the inside might put me off. But the inside was also "acceptable". 
So after having a few architect/enginerring types check the house to make sure it was not about to fall down, we bought it. This process of course was much more complicated than it sounds, with all the formalities of visiting the bank, lawyers agents and various authorities made more challenging by having to do everything in German. But we got by, with the help of German speaking friends (thanks Eric) now and again, and the help of my dictionary at other times. Phillip's parents came to visit for the easter weekend in the middle of the decision process, and instead of doing some tourism, they got to tramp around our prospective new house looking at cobwebs and cracks in the walls.
Our house is located right on the edge of the village of Schwarzach (population 3,200), about 30 minutes drive from work for both Phillip and myself (located between Heidelberg and Heilbronn!). We have no adjoining neighbours, with the nearst house being about 150 meters away (a luxury in Germany). Our property is mostly bordered by farmers fields, which we look across to the forest from our terrace. There is an old Chicken stall in the garden which is now a dog house when we are at work. 
We do adjoin the Shooting Club, which had Phillip extremely concerned at first. But we soon learned that like most other "clubs" in Germany, it is really a beer-drinking club, as we very seldom hear them shooting, and then only one or two shots, to be able to tell their wives they did shoot, before they started with the beer-drinking! Our property is 4,000 square meters (almost as large as our Bryanston house was-minus the tennis court and pool of course) so it plenty big for the dogs.
Being out in the country side we have lots of "wildlife" with numerous sightings (and the odd capture by the dogs) of hedgehogs, red squirrels, black squirrels and Phillip once saw a very large deer up against our fence. Luckily the dogs weren't there or we might have discovered if Holly really can jump our fence or not! We also have loads of fruit trees and bushes including apple, peach, pear, cherry, walnut, red/black and white currant, gooseberry, raspberry and some other we haven't identified yet. Plus an extremely large vegie patch we have not managed to cultivate yet - but that can wait for next summer - perhaps we can grow pumpkin in the autumn!
The house itself is too big for us with a ground floor (entrance hall, guest loo, lounge, diningroom, kitchen, 2 studies, main bedroom and bathroom), an upstairs (4 bedrooms and another loo) and a basement (garage, laundry room, ironing room, storage room, wine cellar, vege storage room and the utility room holding the heating system). We plan to convert one of the upstairs berdooms into a second bathroom and also seal off the upstairs as we only use it when we have guests, so we don't need to heat it in winter (or clean it that often!). 
The house was built in 1958 by the late owner, whose estate we bought the house from. The owners died 2 years ago and the house had been empty since. It had become a spiders' paradise. And I would rather face a hungry lion than a tiny spider!
Schwarzach being a small town, news spread fast of the white africans who bought the house that had stood empty for 2 years after the previous owner died, and people seem to know more about us than we do! Oh well, I knew I would be famous one day. The nearest house to us is the vet, which is extremely convenient. I don't even need to get the car out to take the dogs there. The vet owns 3 horses which graze in a paddock our house overlooks, so we have a lovely view of wheat fields, horses and forrest (and the accompanying smell from time to time!
We moved into the new house at the end of June, and basically April through July involved lots of dealing beaurocary, house purchase administartion, packing, moving, unpacking, painting, DIY blah blah blah. Lots of work which one must do oneself as labour is not as cheap as in South Africa. The only excitement was our housewarming "Grillparty" at the end of July with 60 guests (40 adults and 20 kids). I didn't think we knew that many people in Germany! But it all went well and we had a good time. Again lots of work with no domestic help!
Melbourne - My team was asked to do a presentation to a large retail customer in Australia so it suddenly became strategic enough for me to go. I’ve always wanted to visit Australia and find out why so many South African’s flock to what is basically the middle of nowhere. The client was in Melbourne and I tried to fit in a stop over in Sydney, but was happy in the end that this did not work out because I enjoyed having some time to explore Melbourne. Luckily for me Tracy lives there now (Tracy is an old family friend and emigrated from Kwa-Zulu Natal around three years ago). Immediately on arrival I saw why she finds it so special – it is so like Durban from an architectural and climate point of view (at least while I was there – and compared to living in Germany!) that until anyone opens their mouths you could easily be on the south coast. (Kaps - think that samoosas and bunny chow may not be available, but I’ll check that with Tracy for you!).
Tracy was an excellent hostess, and managed to fit into one evening and a mornings tour a great overview of the city and specifically for me stops at every harbour/ marina to take pictures of sailing boats (yes missing the water here in Germany). We went out for some drinks on Friday evening and met up with some of her friends after work at Federation Square a new ‘happening place’. Pretty whacky architecture and buildings, but a great central focal point downtown. Was good to see the social, fun side of working is alive and well in other parts of the world. This is one aspect of Germany that is still very difficult to ‘adapt’ to (no mixing work and pleasure), but I’ll soon convert them all – there are only around 90 million to go! Was also good for me to see Aussies in their natural habitat and chew the fat about cricket & rugby and other sporting religions. We had an excellent Greek meal at one of the many restaurants lining the Yarra River and did a quick walk around the surrounding area including the Crown Casino. The Casino is absolutely massive and runs the length of a complete shopping centre. Imagine Sandton City with shops on the right and Casino on the left for the full length all in open plan – since I have a bad attitude towards casinos from South Africa having seen Gold Reef & Carnival City and others too recently, this seemed like a weird idea to me… .
On a glorious Saturday morning we had breakfast at one of the many marinas and then drove around the bay for at least an hour taking in the different suburbs and views over the water. I was really impressed by the bay as this is a sailors dream, a protected area of water that large and with minimal commercial shipping. As mentioned I made her stop at every opportunity to take in the views of boats (hope I was not too painful ?). Saw the MCG, Telstra Dome, Exhibition Centre and Botanical Gardens, went through the area for the Melbourne Grand Prix (was another two weeks away, but was all set up and ready to go) and really enjoyed just looking at the houses lining the bay. Prices range from really really expensive to ridiculous (even for Euro shoppers!). We then went to the observation deck on top of the Rialto Building in the centre of town (every tourist has to do this….), gives a great overview of the city and surrounds (advertised as the highest rooftop in the Southern Hemisphere). 
Schwarzwald – Rebecca came to see us for a long weekend in March, and we left the ‘concrete jungle’ and headed for the Black Forest. We’d had quite a bit of snow recently and I’d even been skiing the night before only 50 minutes from home at Mehliskopf, so the scenery was perfect for a winter break in the forest. We stayed at a Hotel in Langenordnach, 10 minutes outside of the main tourist attraction, Titisee. Titisee is a tourist town on the edge of a quaint lake. We were stupid enough to ask at the hotel if there were still boat tours in winter, but once we got there saw that ice skating was far more likely. We did a walk around the lake, did some tourist shopping – Black forest smoked ham, dried sausages, local schnapps etc and then went tobogganing for the afternoon.
While walking around the lake we stopped for a beer and some hot chocolate, was really great to see the lake frozen over and covered in snow - now we know why the hotel owner looked at us like we were mad, when I wanted to take a boat trip!
We went back to the hotel, had some dinner and local beer and then before we could come up with excuses for going to bed early on a Saturday night (which was a major consideration proving we are becoming old farts), we went off to see the 'Hornschlittenrennen' nearby. HornSchlitten are giant toboggans for three people and this was the local championship. We missed the actual competition, but arrived in time for the bonfire with brass band, beer / gluhwein fest and fireworks display, followed by a disco outside in the snow on the mountain side, was really fun. A great break overall and good to see Becs again.
We did find another place though, a farm house with 95 000 sq meters of land – yes a real farm in the Odenwald (complete with hay, barns and pig sty’s etc), but an hours drive to work for me. It was built in the 1600’s and is a national monument under all kinds of protection etc, but after looking into it in more detail last weekend with a building engineer, we’re too scared to take on the project of restoring the place…. . We’d need €150 000, just to make it liveable once we’d bought the place, so too scary for someone still unfairly converting to Rands…. .Was a pity, I’d had my heart set on it (Farmer Phill), but sense has prevailed (so far). The picture is taken in the roof and shows quite clearly what the walls are actually made of in a 'Fachwerk' / Tudor House. I never imagined moving to Germany to live in a grass/ mud hut! For those considering a visit, don-'t worry, a key requirement will always be a spare room, even if the walls were once processed though a cows stomach.
