Once upon a time in Little Finland…
The story of a farm house in the Southern Vosges Mountains
By Gesa Emde
Silence. It is so quiet that in the beginning, your ears will be ringing and you are able to hear your own heartbeat. Especially during the night. Except when you listen to the songs of the birds during the day and the cries of the owls at night.
And it is so dark. Not unusual in our hemisphere, you say? Look out your window at night, how many street lights do you see? Here, only moon and stars light the clear skies, reminiscent of the “American nights” in old Hollywood movies when night scenes were shot during the day, underexposed, naturally…
If this doesn’t frighten you, you can discover and experience a lot here, right at our door steps – on the trails of our forested property and around the nearby ponds.
In the center of the “1000 lakes”-region of the Franche-Comté in the Southern Vosges Mountains – some call the area “Little Finland” – down in the canyon of the Breuchin river lies the town of Sainte-Marie-en-Chanois, with its 200 inhabitants, founded in the Middle Ages. From there, a steep road goes straight up the mountain into the woods, and to the Chapelle de St. Colomban, where the road ends – but that’s another story. Just before the end of the road, down a narrow but paved lane, past a pond and around the corner, in the middle of the woods, there they are – our art studio, lecture hall and educational center with of course, a lake.
The house has been there sine 1890. We found it in 1999 and had been rebuilding it since 2009. That winter was very frigid and the roof desperately needed insulation lest we had to use a lot of wood in the wood stove. And once we had started, why not insulate doors, windows and walls and build studios, workshops, a seminar room, yoga studio and of course, guest rooms and put into reality the vision of a dwelling that would include separate spaces for living, working and learning.
Because we were in the middle of the woods, amidst nature – and had our very own, specifically German ideas about ecological construction, we considered only natural materials, like wood and whitewash as well as historically correct construction materials.
Fortunately, we found some great craftsmen in the area and proceeded cautiously, collaborating closely. This old house offered many surprises, some even beautiful, like the fabulous wooden beams, planed and polished, like a smooth, tumbled wood sculpture.
The all-natural stone walls of the former horse and cow barn were completely rebuilt, offering the perfect ambiance for the “pas de deux” gallery, currently showing photographs by Mirko and watercolors, etchings and ink drawings by Gesa.
On the upper floor, we retained the old roof construction of the former hayloft, preserving a feeling of spaciousness and height. The individually designed bright and cozy guests’ rooms fit snug, like nests, around the old, solid oak beams. In the center – the heart – of the house where there used to be the storage area for provisions during the winter is now the lecture room, inviting creative learning, lively discussions and frequent laughter.
A red wooden column in front of the house symbolizes the motto that has been holding us together for 30 years: “pas de deux”, lending its name to the house and the gallery. A dance that centers around art, nature and love. Love for each other, for creativity, for the flora and fauna around, and conveying this love to everyone who enters.
The other day, dear friend Eva said quietly: “it is so beautiful here; it almost hurts”.
