Ora et Labora

Ora et Labora is the name of the whole farm, Latin for “pray and work”. The farm was built in 1913 by a farmer who owned all the land around the farm and had his cattle and hay stocked in the back part of the farm and lived in the front (detached part of the house). In the winters the farmer and his family would join the cattle in the barn to keep themselves warm. The original farmers moved to Canada and sold the farm to a couple who still live in the area. They split up the farm in into three pieces 1998; the front house, and two more houses in the barn. Since than three seperate families live in the farm. The old (low) barn in our garden originally held pigs and sheep.

The big wooden bare beams that you see everywhere in the house came from a shipyard in Amsterdam. Originally it was planned to paint all the beams, but when installed it looked so nice they were kept bare.