PRINT | SITEMAP | SEARCH | RECOMMEND THIS PAGE

The smallholding

In 1787 reform was carried out which later was kown as the dissolution of the adscription. Now the Copy holders could purchase the feedom of their holding and become independent farmers. The smallholders, and the day labourers had no possibility for this and besides their earlier possibility of common grazing on the grounds of the town or fringe disappeared, and they were no longer part of the village community.

In the end of the 1980ies Denmark had 2,5 mill. inhabitants, just under half of them lived in the country. A great majoriy were smallholders, farm workers and servants who lived by selling their labour to the farmers. The children went along as free labour. They were very poor and many of them moved to town or emigrated to America. Hoping for a better life. The farmers and landowners were afraid that much of the labour capacity would disappear, and in 1899 the Nationl Smallholders Law came. Now skilful agricultural workers could have, through state subsidy, a small farm, but not so big, so the labourer had to work for the farmers and landowners most days.

It was not easy for each one of them to find a piece of land and negociate with the owner. Therefore parcelling associations came into being, which bought big farms, parcelled them and sold the land to the future smallholders. The smallholding in Nyvang is a small white washed property of two wings and a tiled roof. The buildings are a copy of the smallholding which is situated in Løvenborg 2 Alle, Løvenborg manor to the west of Holbæk

The original house is built in 1927 and it is a ”standard” house since the National Association of Better Style Building through the twenties and thirties drew and published drawings to the National Agriculture Commitee, which parcelled out state smallholdings. The house cost 4000 krs and should be paid off during 60 years and charged 2% interest.

The farm house contains kitchen, living-room, best room, bedroom, hall, larder and scullery with a copper as well as access to the attic, where grain was originally kept. The size of the rooms and placement of doors and windows were very similar in the majority of the state smallholdings. As such there is no particular diffences in the furnishing.

Today the best room gets light from a kerosene lamp like the original, while in the rest of the house there is electric light. The bedroom is an experience in itself with old fustian eider dawns and beautiful embroidered covers and a hot water bottle made of zink. Our guests are welcome to look inside closets and drawers.

The furniture is not the original one, but cotemporary. The wallpaper in the house is a copy of the original wallpaper.

There is no toilet in the house, so one used the barn, behind cows in the stall and here it was mucked out daily.

The last smallholder family had only one child who was adopted. He slept on the sofa in the living-room, otherwise the older children slept in the bench in the kitchen and the youngest ones in the parents`bed. They went into service in the age of 7-8 years.

In the kitchen there is always fire in the woodburning stove. "Madame Blue” is always ready to offer coffee with Rick´s.

The water is fetched from the pump in the yard.

The stable wing consists of a threshing, a chaff cutting room, pigsties and stalls for cows and horses. In the farm yard there are rabbit cages, poultry and there are goats nearby.

The farmhouse

The farmhouse contains kitchen, living room, best room, bedroom, hall, larder and scullery with a copper as well as access to the attic, where grain was originally kept. The size of the rooms and the placement of doors and windows were very similar on the majority of the state smallholdings. As such there is no particular differences in the furnishing. The conditions do not allow much variation so many people will be familiar with the furnishing. Yet the best room gets light from a kerosene lamp, like in Løvenborg, while there are electrical lights in other rooms of the farmhouse. The bedroom is an experience in itself with old fustian sheets and beautiful embroidered covers and a hot-water bottle made of zinc. Our guests are welcome to look inside closets and drawers. The potted plants are historical and many people will be pleased to revisit some of the typical things in our parents’, in-laws’ or grandparents’ country houses. There will almost always be fire in the kitchen stove and hot water from the water pump in the yard in the stove’s water heater. There is always a scent of Rich´s coffee from "Madam Blue", who is ready to offer guests a much-needed cup of coffee. There is lemonade to our smallest guests. Furthermore, around suppertime there will often be a scent of food from the Old Danish country kitchen. Visitors are welcome to taste. The stable wing consists of a threshing floor, a chaff cutting room, pigsties and stalls for cows and horses. Please note the smell of fodder, animal and dung – and don’t forget the sounds. In the farmyard there are rabbit cages, henhouses with a variety of poultry as well as pigeon houses. There are goats in fences close to the farm and a dunghill behind the stables. The farm has an ornamental garden, a vegetable garden and about eleven acres of farm for grazing, grain and root crops of old sorts, which are being cultivated with horse carriages.

The animals on the smallholding

The old, Danish breeds of domestic animals have until late been overlooked, despite the fact that they are a part of our cultural heritage and offer a diversity of the species, which is worthy of preservation.

Apart from the historical commitment there are also production reasons to preserve the old breeds of domestic animals. They are generally smaller in size, hardier and tougher than the current improved breeds, which have been the object of intensive breeding in order to obtain for instance, bigger outputs of flesh, egg or milk.

It is inevitable that certain valuable genes are thereby lost, particular characteristics such as fertility, immunity or good fodder utilization. The farming museums have in recent years worked hard to preserve our endangered breeds of domestic animals. In many years domestic animals have been kept to a certain degree at the open-air museums, but today the museums are more conscious of animal husbandry. The animals are now as important a part of the museums as the buildings and tools. Old farm buildings, farm tools and animals have become a meaningful whole – thus also in the Co-operative Village of Nyvang.