Vern Summer Festival, Outside Berlin
August 16, 2011 6 Comments
Sylee and I went to the Vern summer festival this saturday.
We won the lottery on the weather, it was sunny the entire day, with fat fluffy clouds gliding lazily against the back drop of endless blue sky.
We stopped by the Brodowin farm to see some cows, get an ice cream and soak in the country side. We gushed and cooed over how beautiful the country side is and mentally I chided myself for not going into it more.
Calling it the Vern summer festival made me imagine an entirely different event. Homemade jams being hawked, open expanses with bales of hay, maybe some music, certainly some flags. I think I am guilty of watching too many American films and reading too many lifestyle magazines. The Vern festival was very modest. A stall each for honey, smoked fish, tomatoes, eggs, potted flowers and potatoes. Proper country folk, with sensibly short haircuts for men and women.
The garden is tiny but grows a wide variety of heirloom plants. That’s what Vern is all about, preserving these varieties.
I was struck by the abundance of insects even more than by the variety of plants. Butterflies swooped and swooned over the many flowers, bees buzzed, a slug longer than my thumb inched along prompting us to squeal in disgust. It was all so alive and engaging.
It tugged at me, like a child at my sleeve and asked me in a child’s common sense way: “Why do you spend day after day indoors?”On the way back I said to Sylee “I want a garden.” Then when I got home, the first thing I said to my husband was “I want a house in the country, I want a garden.”
I’ve spent most of today poking around on Immobilienscout24 and after looking at about 100 tiny bathrooms, all with toilets sporting a superfluous shaggy toilet seat cover and bare gardens. My fantasies gradually lost their velocity.
I guess what I want is the actual Vern garden with a cute English style stone cottage attached. Do they do stone cottages here? Or just squat bungalows with tiny windows and lacquered wood paneling in every room (and sometimes even on the ceiling?And while I’m being wistful, can I just say how much I miss Kew gardens? Possibly the most beautiful place on earth. Oh and what’s the German equivalent of the National Trust?
Vern Gardens
Burgstr. 20, D-16 278 Greiffenberg
www.vern.de
Brodowin Farm
Weissensee 1
16230 Chorin, Brodowin
www.brodwin.de
As someone who recently bought a house with a garden in the country, yes it can be tricky. But there are gems! There are no stone cottages unfortunately but beautiful old country houses. I would recommend checking out Immowelt as well as they seem to have the better selection in the country. Another good idea is to locate where you want to live and then ask the locals which house is available - often houses in the country are not listed at all. Oh and if you´re looking to buy something I know a lovely little house in the South-West of Berlin which we almost bought and that I think is still available.
Never heard of Immowelt, will have a look. Thanks!
I say yes.. get a house in the country.. I love it and my husband is a big grower of the old heirloom tomatoes!. what a great day you had.. c
Sadly the only thing my husband can grow is mould, not a big gardner. But as long we provide him with a deck chair and lot’s of fizzy drinks and promise not to ask him to carry stuff, I can convince him.
We own a house in the country with a garden a mere 20 minute drive from Vern, which my husband just stumbled upon a few years ago. Trust me, it is possible. Rather than go online, start spending some time visiting the area you want to live in (as Katrin said above) and ask the locals. There are often plenty of properties that have been left empty for years (the curse of the former East) and just need some love. They can be bought for laughably low prices, and only the locals would know about where they are, whom to contact, the house lure, etc.
Trust me, it is a worthy investment, and I have never been happier than when I’m out there!
Yes, I think that’s the way to approach it. Although Katrin sent me a link to a house that is just gorgeous. So tempted!