One day in May, my parents in law, Herlufs parents, contacted us about a place near them. They knew the owners and it was just by the woods, they said. Herlufs dad had always been very cautious about properties that lay out too open to fields, as Denmark is very windy, and the wind would carry unpleasant smells and make it impossible to grow anything. A caution he had passed on to his son who had been vigilant of open spaces from the beginning. This requirement, I found very hard to meet when researching possible homesteads, as most of the country is laid out flat, with fields upon fields of big farmer’s mono-culture, as long as the eye can see. This house, however, was not. It was nestled in between the woods, with a south-east slope, that would catch most of the sunny hours despite being by the woods.
The house and property were cheaper than any of the houses we had looked at prior, but this had become more and more of a priority when searching for homes. We wanted something that we could afford to live in, without spending all of our good hours away from the home.
”I want to go see it,” Herluf said as soon as we heard from his parents. I was quite surprised at this as I had seen the property and house listed earlier and deemed it too simple, and too old-timey for Herluf to be interested in. I knew he wanted something move-in-ready and properly functioning, that we could renovate slowly, but surely, and this home was nothing like that.
But this was not the first time he would surprise me like this, and surely it will not be the last.
Read the rest of the story ‘A Home by the Beech Trees - Chapter 1’ here: https://open.substack.com/pub/baggebohomestead/p/chapter-1-a-home-by-the-beech-trees?r=48udlt&utm_medium=ios
Chapters
00:00 one year ago
00:41 the bedroom
04:39 the kitchen
14:56 the bathroom
22:55 the entryway
30:19 the home librabry
39:00 the front of the farmhouse