Germany Guide
The Black Forest
The Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum
Opening time: Daily: March– July & Sept– Oct 9am–6pm; Aug 9am–7pm
Price: €6
Telephone: 07831/935 60
Website: www.vogtsbauernhof.org
Just short of the workaday town of Hausach, 14km west of Schiltach, the Kinzig is joined by the Gutach tributary. This small stream is responsible for the broad 25km-long Gutach Valley – which stretches south to Triberg and beyond and famous for its Bollenhut, a black hat with red pompoms worn as a traditional folk costume by women and reproduced in tourist literature throughout the region.
Just over 1km south of the Gutach's confluence with the Kinzig lies the Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum, an open-air museum focused on an old farm – the Vogtsbauernhof – that has been here since 1570. Its huge roof is typical of the local traditional building style and the sort of place that caused Jerome K. Jerome to comment: "The great charm about a Black Forest house is its sociability: the cows are in the next room, the horses are upstairs, the geese and ducks in the kitchen, while the pigs, children and chickens live all over the place."
The 26 other buildings in the complex – which include a sawmill, granary, bakery, distillery, smithy and chapel – have been moved here from elsewhere to create a rather phoney little village. But great effort has gone into authentically furnishing them all and costumed guides doing craft demonstrations help bring the place alive and broaden the appeal.