Wooden Shoes Museum

This is the colourful facade of the 'Internationaal Klompenmuseum' (International Wooden Shoes Museum) in de village of Eelde, that we passed during one of our recent hikes. According to their website their collection includes more than 2,200 pairs of different clogs and other footwear with wooden soles from 43 countries, and hundreds of tools from 7 European countries. We took this photo on a Sunday morning when the museum was (still) closed, so a visit will have to wait until another time.

I'm linking to Monday Murals.

Fresh eggs

.. and jam. A nice and friendly looking advertisement sign found at a home near the village of Eelde.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

Eelde Autocross

It was unplanned but near the end of our hike last Sunday we happened to pass a local race track. The next race was about to start and we stood there for a while. The track surface was sand and mud, and with all the bumping into each other it was fun and spectacular to watch.

The race was stopped several times to clear the track after a crash. One of the cars ended up in a ditch there on the right.

A lot of dust came from the dirt track!

Refreshments

This small though elegantly decorated cabin near De Braak estate in Eelde offers coffee/tea and refreshments.

Dick Bruna (1927-2017)

It was in the news yesterday that Dutch artist and children's author Dick Bruna had passed away at the age of 89. Dick Bruna became known worldwide with his cartoon rabbit Nijntje, known as 'Miffy' outside The Netherlands. The books were part of my childhood, and with me many many other children. Since the creation of Miffy in 1955 over 85 million (!) books have been sold.

This photo was taken at the Dick Bruna exhibition in the Buitenplaats Museum in Eelde, that I visited back in March 2014. The text on the right tells about the typical style in which Miffy was drawn: the openness, the safety of Miffy's world, how she always stays young...

The apple as art

This rack with wooden apples by Kees Franse is part of the new exhibition "The Apple, Between Guilt and Innocence" in De Buitenplaats Museum in Eelde. The collection shows how the apple appeared in painted and sculpured art, both traditional and contemporary. But it also deals with the cycle of life and the seasons, mythology and symbolism of apples.

The wooden apples by Kees Franse date from 1971. Franse (1924-1982) was a Dutch painter and sculptor, he is known for his abstract and figurative works.

Signs of Autumn

I visit the Buitenplaats Museum in Eelde several times a year and love to wander around in the museum garden. Watching the change of seasons never bores..

Here Autumn seems to be nibbling on the leaves!

Lavender carpet

I'm sitting on a bench inside De Buitenplaats Museum in Eelde here, while my nose is "experiencing" the carpet of lavender leaves in front of me. Dutch artist Herman de Vries (1931) created this piece by using 54 kg of lavender. Imagine that! The intention is that visitors will have a 'sensory perception'. Well to be honest I could have sat here for hours, it was really really good.

The lavender carpet is part of the exhibition "Into Nature", which can be viewed throughout the province of Drenthe during the Summer: 40 works by national and international known artists are shown on 17 different places.

Frogs in a pond

More photos from Sweden will follow, but today a picture from my visit to De Buitenplaats Museum and its garden in Eelde last Thursday, where I spotted these two frogs in one of the ponds.

I'm linking to Saturday's Critters on Eileen's blog. Happy weekend :)

Bähler-Boerma Bench

Students of the Terra Agricultural College designed this Gaudi-like "social sofa" on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of "Ons Dorpshuis" ("Our Church Hall") in the village of Eelde.

Ons Dorpshuis in Eelde is the oldest church hall in the Netherlands, and it was founded by Mrs G. Bähler-Boerma in 1915. The mosaic bench (known as "Bähler-Boerma Bench") was placed here in April 2015, next to the new roundabout near Ons Dorpshuis.

Rooftops

Another photo taken on the premises of Museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde, Friday a week ago.

Nijsinghhuis entrance

This is the entrance door of the Nijsinghhuis, a 17th century house at the Hoofdweg in Eelde. Between 1896 and 1939 it was a town hall, years later followed by a school. a bank, an office. Then nothing.
To prevent the building from going into decline after that, it was eventually sold to the Van Groeningen family for the symbolic price of 1 guilder, under the condition that it would be renovated completely.
The Nijsinghhuis is now part of Museum De Buitenplaats. I have never been inside as it is only opened to the public on specific days, however I very much hope to visit it one day. If it looks as good inside as it looks on the outside, it´s quite promising!

Aquarelliste

Only a few sculptures are left to stay in the Buitenplaats Museum gardens during the winter months. This piece named 'Aquarelliste' by Jet Schepp is one of them, it is placed on top of a wall/grass grown roof across the Oranjerie, and pictures a lady who is creating an aquarel painting. It's a very peaceful scene.

Jet Schepp (1940) is a Dutch sculptor, she lives and works in Amsterdam.

Wilhelmina

This bronze sculpture pictures Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands from 1890-1948. and great-grandmother of our King Willem-Alexander. The sculpture was created by Dutch sculptor Charlotte van Pallandt (1898-1997). It is located on a beautiful (a bit hidden, surrounded by trees on 3 sides) location in the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde. During my visit the sculpture was caught by the sun and I liked the Autumn-coloured background.

Another piece exactly like this can be found in front of Palace Noordeinde in The Hague, where I photographed and posted it on this blog in December 2012, please click HERE to see it.

My cappuccino in... Eelde

View from inside Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde to the museum café, across one of the ponds...

...where I ended my visit with a cappuccino, served with a piece of home-baked speculaas. Speculaas is a type of spiced shortcrust biscuit, very Dutch and traditionally eaten this time of year, but of course it also tastes delicious the rest of the year!

More Autumn colours

There is so much to discover in the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde, with its many walkways, ponds, and sculptures. Beautiful in all seasons, though I must say nothing beats these Autumn colours. This photo was taken last Friday.

From London to Venice in one photo

This 8.1 meters long panorama photo is part of the current exhibition 'Portraits of Nature' in Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde, and pictures the flight that Japanese painter/sculptor/photographer Hiroyuki Masuyama (1968) took from London to Venice.
Here Masuyama describes the movement of time and space as it is experienced in flight. He mounted his camera onto the window of his airplane and took a photo every 20 seconds. With several hundreds of photographs he then composed a single, monumental montage of the journey.

I cannot imagine what a difficult job this must have been to create, but I really like the idea!

The pond

Another view from yesterday afternoon, taken in the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde. The sculpture in the pond is ´Atlas´, a bronze by Dutch sculpturor Lotta Blokker (1980). In Greek mythology, Atlas was the Titan who held up the sky. This sculpture however shows Atlas holding up another man.

I am linking to Weekend Reflections.

Autumn sun

In the garden of Museum de Buitenplaats in Eelde, earlier today.

Orangerie

Following up on yesterday's post, this is another photo of the orangerie. Starting in the 17th century many important houses had an orangerie in which plants could survive the winter. Over time these small and stylish buildings became a fashion. Not only plants, but also guests felt home in them, compare it to the conservatory we know nowadays.

This orangerie can seat 20 people, but when the weather is good plenty more people can have a seat. Since 2009 it is also the wedding location for the municipality of Tynaarlo.