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| The color pictures and background are mine, the 2 black and white pictures are downloaded from Monumentenzorg.nl |
January 1, 2018
WOW, it has been a looooooong time since I updated this part of my blog!
We've had the archeological dig to check on whether we can re-use the foundations of the gatehouse..... As far as we can see, we cannot. They are sturdy, but because of the minetunnel below it, the age of the foundations and the fact that it is not REALLY on solid footing, but a partially on clay, partially on a manmade addition to the island, the going thought was that we will keep the foundation, but put a kind of "pillow" on top, to protect it, and build the new walls, on top of that. It will be below groundlevel, so as far as looks....... it will be 1650 all the way.
We found walls that date back to the 15th century, and original tiretracks :-) SOOO COOL!!! And we found a pipe, and our 8th shoe sole, some ceramics and a lot of mud. We DID find a gutter system, that does not seem to be part of the known structures, that we will excavate and preserve. Everyone is hoping that when we rinse it out, there will be some really cool, period stuff coming out, but we all agreed, that it will probably be just a load of 17th century mud.... It will be preserved in our main office, and in a couple of years, when it's stabilized and examined, it will be shown in our castle. NUTS, right?
May 20, 2017
Some good things happened to the castle since I was last here....
The Gemeente aagreed to put a little more money in the project, which released the money we received from the Giro Loterij last February, as long as the Province chips in, but since the 2 were in a "we're in if they're in" draw.... we have hope! The geese have babies, I actually saw the Kingfisher again last weekend, which completely made my day! The big opening of the season was a succes, as was the volunteer drive (we now have 16 tourguides). I'm in the middle of figuring out where to get the information for animal breeds for the petting-zoo, and we're starting to build the blacksmith shop here very shortly..... There's a shift from "everybody for the project" to "everybody wants to outdo the others" which is a shame, and takes part of the fun out of it, but I decided that I'll work my days, and stay clear of the days where there's more than one tourguide on duty, or at least any of the ones that want to show what they know while kicking the tourguide giving the tour in the teeth...... The project is worth my time, and I'm learning to pick what battles need fighting and I have energy for, and which I can work around.... I'll include a couple of pictures and a scrapped page.
March 15, 2017
I scrapped a couple of pages but this is my favorite one :-) I used a new kit from Boo, that is coming out next month, so I can't tell you yet what it is... I'm not even sure I can "legally" post it yet, but I have a little time before I have to start dinner, so figured, I quietly post it, and hope you get to see it :-)
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| Great Horned Owl |
This weekend, there's lots to do at the castle. Saturday, we have an "open day" to attract volunteers. The volunteers have to be on the ground by 9, which is good, because I can come in with Mike that way, and the potential volunteers will be on the grounds by noon. The big boss will give his presentation about the project, and what is expected of the volunteers, and after that, the "already in place volunteers" will be available for chats, information and to turn an interested person, into a collegue by the end of the day.
Sunday is the last of the Bird of Pray workshops until October/November. I received the list of attendees yesterday, and it will be a big one. Signed up and paid, we have 14 people, with another 2 that may or may not come. The good thing for me, will be, that the castle is not open for the public, so there are no extra tours to take care of, and I can focus on the workshop and what needs done on the side. And....... enjoy the crap out of the birds :-)
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| Sara, the Chilean Blue Eagle |
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| Mientje, the Desert Eagle |
February 20, 2017
The Bird of Pray workshop of the 12th of Februrary was cancelled because of a "no moving and no fly" order in Belgium for the birds because of the bird-flue, and was postponed till next week, in hopes it would only be a temporary order, and it was. The workshop planned for yesterday, went off without a hitch. It was fun, busy and totally repeatable! As a matter of fact, there will be 2 repeats and a possible photo-workshop before April 1st.
January 1, 2017
Happy New Year :-)
- Registration is open for the workshops to learn to fly a bird of pray thru the falconers website www.wimhuygen.be
- We have confirmation that our zoning permit is almost to the point that the city council will have to say YAY or NAY to our proposed use of the property, so we're kinda biting our nails at the moment.... It being a city instigated project, you would think the YAY's would have it and the vote is just a formality, but you would be off the mark. You see, there have been council elections since we started the process of applying for the rezoning from farm to commercial. We want to farm, yes, but we also want to make money witht he restaurant and store, renting out the premises for meetings and parties and make it a school to learn the old ways, and there in lies the rub....... that's commercial, so the zoning needs to be addressed, the parking and impact on the environment needs to be looked at and regulated and there are things that have been looked in to, I couldn't even tell you what it was for and how it is related, but it was part of the process. If you were to stack the investigations, the reports, the testing, the explanation of what we want to do, how we want to do it, and why, it would stand about as tall as a good sized Neanderthal. I hear you think.... All of these things cost money, because besides us, nobody works for free, and all these costs take away from the project, and I agree...... BUT, once all this is done, covered, allowed and approved, we will have our whole wishlist covered. There is nothing that we may want to do in the future that will not be covered in the zoning, which means, that no matter how many times the council changes members, alliances and opinions...... it's already approved. This rezoning will also allow us to finally charge for the coffee outright, make a grilled cheese, serve soup etc. In short, put our kitchen to work in generating money for the project, as well as enticing people to come and stay a while. Besides the wishlist thing, doing all this at once, also means that we can keep going once we get going, because we don't have to find out what needs to be checked off in ways of investigation to do things....... so it will save us a lot of time in the longrun, but we are all like 5 year olds in the back of the car on they way to the vacation destination, asking every couple of minutes ........ "Are we THERE, yet?!" LOL!
- I also found out, that as soon as work starts on the gatehouse, and the zoning is adjusted, we will start building on the pettingfarm, which means that I have to get my tail in gear and finalize the research, and get names, and numbers of people in the know and and pictures of the breeds that would be suitable, as well as needs and requirements, and possibly find a vet that can deal with them and would be willing to donate their time if we need them...... I heard there is a kind of exchange program, where you house the rare breeds but don't own them., kind of like a foster program :-) That would be the best option, but we would still need to find them, and organize it, so that will be part of my schedule for a while as well.
- The beekeeper is not ready to move the hives into their spot yet, but we're hopefull they'll go to sleep before spring, so they can be transferred over, and the gardener is making plans for a wildflower/butterfly/bee part on the property, and beneficial insect houses to get things started in the garden as well. Seedlings are being tended to, plans are being made and finalized and come spring, de garden too will be getting the full attention of the crew.
For now, life at the castle is a little slow going..... we're ready to build, but can't yet and we're ready to plant, but it wouldn't be wise. So we're all hoping that the first few months of the year will pass as fast as the last of last year, so we can give our castle our full energy again, and in the meantime, we work out the kinks in the volunteer schedule, plan things for next season, and do all the things you would do if your work is outside, and you have to be inside because of the weather :-)
December 20, 2016
We are of and on closing for winter and the archeology exhibit and the dig are postponed until the weather is warmer, so as not to have frost do damage to the foundations, the plants for the garden are being sprouted as we speak, space is being readied for the beehives, the council is in the middle of reviewing our zoning and a couple more things I can't get into my brain right now, are going on, there are several things "in the works" for spring when we open for the season again, and we officially have our own Falconer. He will be at our castle for demonstrations on Wednesday December 28th, and he will be giving bird of pray workshops in the months of January, February and March, before going back to his "day job" at the Planckendael Zoo in Leuven. Our opening hours are a bit wonky over the next couple of months, but
we're open
from December 26th thru January 8th, closed New Years Day
February 18 thru March 5th
April 15th Open for the Season
Next week is the official start of the 2 week month of archeology :-) My exhibit is somewhere in the "lets see what we want to change" process, and I'll see what's left of it on opening day, better known as October 10th.
Open monument days were a success, and the games we used are stored for the next event.
The encampment of the "Hospitaal Ridders" was really fun to see. I had no idea this kind of thing went on. The only reenactment groups I've encountered have always been either Civil War or WW-2, and now it includes the crusades...... so cool! It was neat to see that cellphones were not in sight, no "modern" cups were used when walking around, or in camp, even glasses would dissappear if people were asked to pose for pictures, and the campfire lunch smelled absolutely delicious!
There will be no Christmas market this year, and we're closing for winter, with the exception of the 2 weeks around Christmas and New Years en the spring break. Not sure what that will bring in way of happy customers, but I guess, the lack of volunteers that are volunteering on the weekends leaves no other choice. I did my bit, as did the tourguide on Saturdays, but both of us need a break (voluntary or involuntary) sometimes, and that leaves the boss on 7 day shifts.... So I understand, but there's nothing on the books that says I have to like it :-)
July 20, 2016
It's official! We broke ground on the castle last week. There is now a hole in the courtyard edge, where the cobblestones are taken up, and we're digging up the base layer of sand that's on top of the old gatehouse foundation! If the archeologists can decide on a date, we'll be doing our archeology on the gatehouse around the middle of August! I already signed up, and because I'm also signed up for the instructional part of the "month of the castle" in October, I have a very valid reason to stick close to the archeologists! We are having our first meeting on the subject tomorrow afternoon and all I have to do is to make sure that one of the tourguides doesn't take over like she usually does. Not sure I can be nice about it anymore, but that's nobody's concern but mine :-)
Saturday we are delivering information folders all around the area. Hopefully Mike wants to go as well, because me and Johnny-GPS are currently not on speaking terms! LOL.
June 1, 2016
The cellars were officially opened on May 16th! There is a lot of things happening at the castle these days. We now have an opening presentation that we go thru before the tours. I really use it to start the tour, and touch on things that will be seen in the tour, while referencing it when we get to that point. It seems to work well, and I'm amazed at the amount and variety of questions I'm getting while doing the presentation. Things that I have never heard ask before. The first couple I had to give a couple of "I really do not know that" answers, but that means, at night, I get to digging, write the answer down with the corresponding slide, and feel all prepared for next week. LOL.
At the opening of the cellars, we had a whopping 700 paying visitors come thru the doors. That is excluding the "friends" (about 200 of them, at last count) so we are getting there. If we could get these numbers per months, that would be such a boost for the project. Rumor has it that the archeology on the foundations for the gate-house is set for approximately August, Blueprints are being worked on as we speak, as are the permits and building proposals and if everything works the way we hope for, we start building in the spring. We have all permits ready to go for the blacksmith shop, and will start building the building on the square, until we have the groundwork done, so we can show how it's done, and than, I hope, we'll have a good old fashioned "barn raising" when we take it apart, and put it back together at it's final location.....
On a different note, our director took a floortile to Heerlen, when they had an event similar to and made the news :-) I'm going to try and link to the video. Even the archeologist was amazed at the find.... He'd never seen one, heard about it, but never had one in his hands before. SO COOL!!
L1-news: Rare floor tile found The video has 2 parts on the tile, so keep watching :-) I tried to "steal" a still of the tile, but I think I'll have to go to the source for that, and get my own.....
February 10, 2016
As indicated on the main blog, we are in the running for A LOT of exposure from the national tourist board ANWB. They are having a poll to determine the "most valuable project for the community" The big prize will mean that we will get featured on their website for a year as well as mentioned in all of their stores across the country. This would mean massive recognition for the project, as well as a boost in capital for the build, because we can put off the advertising campain off till next year...
Would you please take a look at our site, if you haven't done so, and cast your vote for us?
The tourist board website is:
February 3rd, 2016
I'M SO HAPPY!!!
We just got word that we will receive almost800 000 Euro's for the project from the lottery. Once a year, the lottery divides a portion of their earnings among cultural projects. This year we're one of the recipients. It will enable us to build the gatehouse and bridge!!! (More on the main blog for today)
November 21, 2015
Our castle is gearing up for it's second big event next month.....
The first was the official "coming out party" as part of the open monument day that is held every year, to give people a chance to check out historical sites for free. This is always in the second weekend of September. We had lots of people, but with every event like that, there is not always a way to get the whole experience, which resulted in people coming back for a better look, where we could answer questions more easily than when there are 500 people clammoring for attention. The weekend went very well as we had a total of almost 3000 people coming to see what we were all about.
The event we are gearing up for, is a Christmas market, and this is the poster we're putting up all over town.
I'll be "working" that Sunday, but I've no clue as to how busy the tours will be. I think most people will visit the fair for it's location, and it being the new kid on the block for events and such, and that is fine. I will find a spot where it's easy to determine whether the people coming thru the door are there for the fair or for the castle and go from there. Either way, I discovered the other day, that the castle has a whole different vibe when there are lots of people on the grounds. The place needs hustle and bustle, and any way we can get that, I'm perfectly allright with!
If you're interested in what get's me all fired up...... here's the website of the castle. There is no English translation of the site yet, but if you have questions, just shoot me a line at the bottom of this page, and I'll get back to you.
September 28
Saturday, all volunteers were treated to a day at the Archeon, in Alphen a/d Rijn. I had never been, as it opened after I left, and we were under the impression that it was mainly for kids. I was wrong, and I'm so glad I was :-) It was so cool. The theme for the day was food.... always a favorite of mine, although I hadn't bargained for the "period" part. LOL. My first love has always been pre-historic times, so that's where I spent most of my time, even though I believe the premise of going here was the fact that there is a small medieval village. I spent some time there too, and I DID get a new insight in life during the time of our castles glory days, so it's all good ;-) I took a bunch of pictures, and after looking at them yesterday, they don't represent the real feel of the place, but it does show you that when I get crazy on "dark winter days" it's all in what you're used to..... It was a sunny day, and in many of the houses, I really had to stand in the doorway for a minute or so, to get my eyes adjusted so I wouldn't run into things. The normal 5 to 7 hours of daylight in the winters, must have felt like an extention of the nights, but it was so neat to be there and realize how life must have been back than, and how harsh. There were people that were doing what was done during the time period you walked through, in the appropriate dress, and none looked uncomfortable, or even out of place. It was a cool mix of museum-meet-life..... In the prehistoric houses there was a mix of things... freshly killed duck, mussels, fish and meal-worm cookies, but also nut- berry- and veg-mixes. I cowardly declined the meal-worm cookies...... It was kinda cool to see that they were cooking the mussels on a fairly thin piece of shale in the fire, how they made stew of meat, nettles, grass and apples. How they had wild garlic, even than, to spice up the brew. How they made sewingneedles from bone, and weaved ropes from thin strips of hide that came off when they made clothing etc.... The walk gradually took you from the very first hut in the stone age, thru bronze age, iron age, etc into the Roman occupation and onto the middle ages, with a short stop between the roman age and the middle ages for lunch. After lunch there was a gladiator fight. It was fun to watch, mainly geared towards the children in the audience, but I did learn things I had no idea of, so .... Cool! (like the fact that the gladiators were mainly named after their way of fighting) Than I had Roman poffertjes. I always thought they were typically Dutch, since I've never seen them outside of Holland, except on the Iowa Fair and in Pella..... They weren't half bad really, they made them with water instead of the milk we make them with here, and without eggs, which gives them a little bit of a bland flavor, but they had a bucket of honey to dress them up... and dressing them up, it did! Made over an open fire, I was amazed they were all the way done, but they were, and just enough of a sweet tooth fixer to make it thru the rest of the day :-)
The medieval village was actually really cool. It reminded me of the really, really old, medieval part of Den Bosch, only with wider streets. LOL There were chickens running almost everywhere, there was a very bite-happy horse, so I did some "horse smelling" from a little bit bigger distance than I would have liked, and they had 2 of the biggest pigs I have ever seen. They were a dark grey, and had no better manners than the wild boar in the Veluwe. They were grumpy! The thing I thought was odd, was that they didn't have any canines that I could see. I somehow thought they would have... Oh well, shows you just how much I know about farm animals. LOL. The houses were very sparse compared to today, but they were mainly workshops with a bed, fireplace/cookstation and some shelves, so I guess, as far as functionality... they did what they needed to do.
When the park closed, we all got back in the respective cars to go back to the castle grounds, where we had a bbq, with the fireplace going in the visitors centre and by about 9 oclock, I was completely done in, and had to call Mike to come and get me. I didn't want to leave, but I couldn't stand without holding on to something and was worried I would fall flat on my face before I hit the bridge...... Later that evening, I received an email with this picture of the castle in the moonlight..... So pretty! And I never even looked up while making my way to the car......what a shame.
September 15, 2015
I am SO terribly excited about this project!
The fact that I can tell people the story of what was, and what is still to come is just an added bonus in my book, but let me start at the beginning......
When we moved here in 2011, I could hardly walk, and I really didn't get out much, so when we were in the car, I couldn't look around enough! :-) Somehow we went East, South and North, but very seldom West..... The following summer, after going back to work after his heart attack, Mike found a shortcut to get to base, that saved him more than an hour a day, and he had seen ruins but no way to get there, so on one of our "get Pauli out of the house" drives, we found the road that according to Mikes intuition had to lead to them..... so walking up the dirt road we went, and when we came around the last corner, we stopped dead in our tracks. It was beautiful and awful at the same time. I know, that doesn't make much sense, so let me explain.
The ruins were beautifull, you could still see part of the bridge crossing the moat, and there were wildflowers blooming, the sun was coming and going behind the clouds, shining gently on the walls and it had a peacefull elegance to it. The horrible part was the trash, the weeds, and the general feeling of neglect if your eyes wandered off the ruins. To realise that something that had stood so long, was left to fall down, with or without obvious help from vandals, just felt wrong somehow. We worked our way back to the car in silence (Mike never talks much anyway, but my mind was going in lots of different directions, besides the obvious one of putting one foot in front of the other without falling down).... I had taken pictures, and when I got home, I searched for the castle on area maps to find out it's name, and maybe a little history. At that time, I also decided to make a 4-season photo shoot. I'm a sucker for wildflowers and old buildings, so that part I already had covered, and there were only 3 seasons to go if I could make it out there :-) So that was the plan!
Fall got there, and I was almost too late to take fall color pictures. Winter surprised us with snow, so off I went! I took Mike to work, and on my way home, I went by "my" castle. I took a couple of pictures, and while I was walking in peaceful silence, it started snowing again. I just stood there and enjoyed it. Full well realizing that I would pay for that later, but really not caring. LOL. March 2013, when I went back for the last picture, I got quite a surprise.... The islands were void of weeds, and there was a crane sitting on one of them, next to a container. Once home, I went online but I couldn't find the original website. What I did find was a different one, when I entered the name of the castle saying that the castle would be rebuild, with old techniques and, once finished, looking the way it did in 1700..............
Now, fast forward by a year and a half :-) and the notice on the website that volunteer tourguides were being sought.I couldn't believe my luck that I saw that notice. Long story, just a tad shorter............. I am now a tourguide at the most amazing project anyone could imagine, and a dream come true for any one that loves history as much as I do.
The project is in it's first phase, where all the plans are laid out before the powers that be, and the acquisition of permits, background information and the likes are taken care of. But it's no longer just on paper. We have our visitors center up and running, there are tourguides almost every day on site, we have a steady building crew and a boss at the helm for whom this is not his first rodeo. He already headed and completed an off the wall project. The rebuilding of an East Indies Company ship. A sailable ship that crossed the ocean, before being moared at Lely Stad harbor to give hundreds of people a day, a chance to feel what it must have been like for the people saling on similar ships in order to get spices and trade goods around the world. Which reminds me, I still have to scrap the pictures we took when we went to see it last spring :-)
The website of our project is: www.slotschaesberg.nl
Even though there is not yet an English version of the site, there is a lot of good things to see. I will keep telling the story of the castle as it unfolds. Probably between the regular blog and this page, but I will keep you "posted" for sure :-) The new section will be above this, so the latest news will always be on top.
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