The gusty wind had set the blades of the De Molen windmill turning – swish, swish, swish, around and around they went. The small town of Foxton was celebrating the 10th Anniversary of De Molen, the 17th century working replica Dutch windmill in the main street, which attracts 30,000 visitors annually.
De Molen windmill in Foxton
With fingers flying across the keys, the accordionist continued playing a medley of Dutch music as crowds filed into the ground floor of the windmill. De Molen was the dream of Jan Langen and Cor Slobbe, two Dutch immigrants, and the dream was realised when the windmill was officially opened in 2003. The working windmill is equipped with the latest design in composite millstones as well as two new experimental wind blades.
Playing to the crowds
For just a gold coin donation we could climb the steep stairs to the upper floors. We sat for a while and watched the video which told how the windmill was built and how it all works. Bags of grain were piled in a corner waiting to be milled.
To be ground into flour
Up another steep staircase, and we found a friendly volunteer who had spent some time working in the windmill as a miller. He was full of knowledge and very happy to share it with us all as we crowded around in the small space. He really looked the part too, dressed in his Dutch cap, and wooden clogs on his feet.
The miller
The large wooden gears mesh together to turn the millstones, which weigh 1000kgs each. Everything runs smoothly, if a little noisily, with wooden cogs continually turning with the power of the wind. The heavy bags of grain are lifted up to the third floor, and the grain is put through the millstones, ground into flour which falls to the floor below through a wooden chute.
The ground flour slides down here
The windmill is a charitable trust with a totally volunteer board and staff. All funds raised are used to keep the windmill in top working order and is a monument to all the Dutch immigrants who travelled to make New Zealand their new home. After seeing how it all worked, we couldn’t leave without purchasing a bag of stone ground wholemeal flour, and a selection of Dutch biscuits from the ground floor shop. Then we joined the queue outside to purchase our tasty lunch of Dutch sausages served with mustard and sauerkraut, and Ollie-bollen, similar to a doughnut - a deep fried pastry filled with raisins and dusted with icing sugar.
Cooking up Dutch sausages
A beautifully decorated Dutch street organ entertained us while we enjoyed our lunch. It was built in 1880 as a barrel organ by Alexandre Gasparini in Paris, and was converted to book operation about 1892. It came to Amsterdam in 1903, and played in the city streets for many years. All street organs were banned from operating by the German occupying forces in 1942, and this organ was hidden away to keep it safe. After the war the organ once again played on the streets of Amsterdam, and was then exported to USA in the 1960s. Sadly, it’s condition deteriorated and it was unable to play. The organ arrived in New Zealand in 2001 and has been completely transformed back to working order and a new life.
Beautifully decorated organ
A peep around the back was quite a surprise as we watched the “books” fed through the punch card reader, together with a drum on both sides, which received a rat-a-tat-tat when the card decided the time was right. It was fascinating to watch.
The back of the organ
We couldn’t leave Foxton without a peep at the horse drawn tram, which takes customers on a circuit of the town. The Foxton Horse Drawn Tram is a replica of 1880′s public transport from that era, and is pulled by two Clydesdale Horses. It was loaded up, almost ready to go, and the girl in front was waiting impatiently for her Grand-dad to come back with a couple of apples so she could feed the horses.
Foxton Horse Drawn Tram
No comments:
Post a Comment