Peter Haimerl inherited an old farmhouse and made it inhabitable
Up the hill, left into the curve along the forest’s edge. Suddenly the road ends. There’s no one in sight. ‘It’s up here, we’re already waiting,’ calls a voice from the woods. From between the spruce trees, a curious girl appears to help. I retrace the path a bit. At the chapel, I turn off the field path and on the lonely forest clearing that opens up after about 100 m is an old Bavarian farmhouse. The Cilli. Cilli Sigl, the last farmwoman to live here, died in 1974. Her hamlet deep in the Bavarian Forest was anything but a posh estate. It had three cows and a couple of bare fields; a piece of forest and a mixed fruit orchard in front of the house. Just enough for difficult everyday life and frugal forest living. Cilli and the animals lived under one roof; the only warm room was the sitting room. The attic was used for grain storage. In the meadow in front of the gabled barn was an old oven for baking bread. Originally, the grounds date back to the year 1840; ownership changed hands often and the building was expanded repeatedly. Since Cilli died, the old masonry has fallen into decay....
Text: Sandra Hofmeister
