Museum village and touring Cloppenburg

Rain in Cloppenburg seems to last only for 5-10 minutes and then sunshine! So although I awoke to sunshine it was only a few minutes before it became rain and then beautiful sunshine again. It is nice to have such changes, but you must prepare for a whole day by bringing all the paraphernalia you might need with you.

Today we toured the Museum Village of Cloppenburg. It is a preserved area of the town where they have imported old houses, barns, schools, churches to resemble what it may have looked like in previous centuries.

We arrived there before anyone else and had a wonderful guide who took us to see the main sites, like the house of a poor tenant farmer, the schoolhouse of those children and the house of the richest landlord in the region. The houses are all the same layout with the only visible changes I could see where in the size and the material used to build the house. The richer the owner the bigger and better material was used. Very simple. So 200 years ago I would have shared a house with my cattle on one side of the room and chickens on the other. For one thing they provided heat and on the other I must watch them all the time so that the family could be aware of their animals health. The guide indicated in the winter the smoke from the fireplace (which had no chimney) actually smoked all the meat hanging in the rafters and in the summer the flies were so bad people build beds that had built in doors for shutting them out. Yuck! Also they thought they must sleep sitting up as when you lay down you die :) Glad that is no longer the case.

After our walk through the village we entered the modern part of town and walked a bit, exploring the differences in architecture after the war and before. Even some remnants of an old castle remained behind. We then had a brief lunch and spruced up to meet the Mayor of Cloppenburg. Herr Doktor Wiese who is a Rotarian. He was extremely nice and thoughtfully provided us with pins of Cloppenburg’s credo. Herr Dk. Wiese gave a small tour of the Ratssaal and asked that I sing in their speaking chamber. It was a great room and directly in the middle provided a chamber of hearing, an auditory phenomenon that allowed you to feel as if you were magnified 1,000 times. It was incredible.

We had some shopping time in Cloppenburg and then met to have a tour of Zuchthof Klatte Farm. We were shown the mares and foals along with the gorgeous stallions. I must admit that Black Beauty was one of my favorite books growing up, but I am still a little afraid of such a big creature. Barbara nearly lost a bit of her jacket when one of them playfully nipped at her :) The name Klatte has stood for breeding horses of the highest quality for centuries and Klein Roscharden has been the home of the Klatte family for more than 500 years. Their strong bond with horses and, for more than 100 years, with stallions has made Klein Roscharden a top international address. A success by many fathers – in the most literal sense since it was the sires who advertised Zuchthof Klatte far beyond the borders of Oldenburg. Especially Argentinus, who won the title "Hanoverian Stallion of the Year 2005".

For more than two decades, this main sire has been the maker of international performance horses for show jumping as well as dressage. His son, Arko III, with his British rider, Nick Skelton, were the best rider/horse combination in international show jumping.

After our tour of the stables we left for dinner where I found that the Klattes’ also own the restaurant where we were eating. They asked me at the end of the meal to sing a little song so for the first time I sang for my supper :) Viel Dank Klatte :)