Tuesday 6th October – Massing, Germany

I think that the rule about registering your stay with the museum is just to keep out unwanted guests. They seemed to be very relaxed even when we said that we would be staying tonight as well.
I volunteer at Avalon Archaeology, a small (but fascinating!) open air museum with reconstructions of archaeological buildings from the Iron Age through to the Anglo-Saxon period. Massing’s Freilichtmuseum is an open-air museum that is designed to show Bavarian life in the more recent past. Farm buildings from the local area were taken down on site, transported to the museum and reconstructed. Work started in the late 1960s and there are now many buildings spread out over a large site with room for plenty more in the future.
We walked out of the reception building into the Schusterod farm yard and a view of the beautiful farmhouse dating to 1770. On another side of the yard, one of the farm buildings has been converted into a restaurant. When researching the museum, we read very good reviews of the restaurant and we would return later for lunch. Just outside the farmyard was the bakehouse with a large wood-fired oven inside. I was intrigued by this as I have built a much smaller wood-fired in my back garden and it was good to see a Bavarian oven in such good condition and obviously still in use.
We continued our walk around the site, viewing other farmsteads, workers huts and farm-based industrial buildings. The farmhouses were furnished with typical furniture and artefacts, giving a view into the farmers’ lives in the period. There were extensive information boards in every location and, although they were only in German, Google Translate enabled us to read them. In one farm building they have reconstructed a village shop from the end of the 20^th century. There was good clay in the area and both bricks and pottery were produced on the site. Excavations retrieved pottery sherds and many pots have been reconstructed to show the styles produced. A potter still works on site and there is a modern kiln as well as a reconstruction of a 19^th century kiln. One farmhouse had a long rope-making shed in the grounds. Hemp would have been grown on the farm and then turned into twine and rope in the shed. There are parallels here with Somerset as, in the area around West Coker, flax was grown and made into rope for the Royal Navy sailing ships, amongst other markets.
Having covered most of site, we took a break and went back to the restaurant. The lamb shank, served with roasted potatoes and a large salad, was excellent.
Over lunch, we read about events held at the museum and that included bread baking every Wednesday and rope making on the first Tuesday of the month. We realised that it was the first Tuesday of the month and that there would be a demonstration this afternoon. We headed back to the rope-making shed and found that the man demonstrating spoke good English. It was hands-on and I was able to get involved with creating a length of rope. It was made with sisal twine rather than hemp and that produces a rather rough, but strong, rope. It was a very quick process and I was able to buy the resulting rope – handy as a tow rope if the motorhome breaks down! We talked to the rope-maker about the bread baking and he said that it is the best bread in Bavaria! I decided that I would have to come back tomorrow to see it being done.
We visited the last few buildings on the circuit and were very surprised to find a skittle alley. Built in 1912, it is very similar to traditional 9-pin skittle alleys found all over the English West Country. Visitors can even borrow skittles and balls from the museum reception and use the alley – very tempting but another day, perhaps.
Having spent over six hours in the museum, we returned to the van for a cup of tea before walking into to Massing. It isn’t a very interesting town apart from the ensemble of bronze sculptures of animals in front of St. Francis. There was a little piece of excitement as we walked back as we were stopped at the level crossing. It is a single-track railway with slow-running trains servicing the local area but it was fun to see it in action.
Photos: The Schusterod farmhouse; This farmhouse was lived in for nearly 400 years and shows its age with many modifications and patching – its is good to see something that is not perfect!; The main bedroom of a farmhouse dating to 1812 – note the painted panels on the bed; The recreated village shop; The rope-making shed; The skittle alley with the positions of the nine skittles clearly marked; The animals surrounding St. Francis in Massing.