An old Dutch farm near the Tankenberg (52.323156, 6.963976)
One of the paths up the Tankenberg (see yesterday's post) crosses the yard of an old farm called Erve Middelkamp. The farm houses are in their original states, though no longer in use for farming, and are of the same type called lös hoes I described earlier:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 28mm, ISO125, f5.6, 1/60s
The doors for the cattle of the larger house open onto the yard, the farmers had an entrance at the other end, but traditionally, there is just one big open space inside.
There was some old farming equipment standing around, like this chaff cutter, used for cutting straw for the stables:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO100, f4, 1/100s
Around the corner stood a cart with hand-made, wooden wheels:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 60mm, ISO200, f4, 1/60s
There are still people around who can make such wheels; I have been to a demonstration of this process once and I was really impressed, especially with the way they heat-shrink the metal band around the wood.
What struck me most on the yard we were crossing, however, was this door:
Olympus Stylus 1s, 65mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/80s
Centuries old and gray with age, it fits and works beautifully, yet there isn't a straight line in it. I actually used the electronic level in my camera to keep the camera horizontal, as the door offered no reference for this.
They used planks as they were cut without straightening the sides, and made them fit together. I think it is a thing of beauty, and I have stood there for a long time just looking at it.
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the second half of Feb 07. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $5.93 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Feb 07 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.
That is an incredible door, alright! I like how they cut that rounded corner to fit the stone. And how it all still fits tight together, without warping or shrinking. And I am a big fan of the cleat latch, just a little piece of wood on a nail. So simple and all that is needed! Very nice!
The kind of engineering I do involves things you can't see at work (IT and elctronics), but (maybe as compensation) I greatly enjoy looking at this sort of old engineering; houses, doors, carts, farming equipment, steam engines, all things of beauty and ingenuity you can just look at in stead of having to visualise abstract models of them inside your head.
And the hand craftsmanship is really something. The skills to get the parts that tight and close to that stone. Really admirable. Today, we think of handwork as "unskilled labor", but there's more skill in that work than I will ever even know.
Your post is a big reminder to start sharing my photos from the Ronde van Nederland I cycled last year. As it happens I passed not very far from this farm. My route in red and the arrow marks roughly where the farm is.
Yes, show those photos! I'm curious.
I can tell from the map you avoided climbing our Huge Dutch Mountains 8-).
Did you also pass through Enschede and Zutphen?
wow my friend @ocrdu can not say more about your post is. but this is a post that is flawless and complete its description cool .
Thank you!
It is interesting too. Enjoyed :)
Good! 8-)
Great pictures, nice find , love those old school constructions, the air around is even different. Straight out of a fierytale great !
Glad you like it!