'Cheese-cover' farmhouse

In this farmhouse, the cowshed is decorated as it would have been in the summer. On Saturday, the farmhouse was dressed 'in its Sunday best'. In some areas, this involved sprinkling sand patterns on the floor of the living room or, as is the case here, in the empty cowshed.   

This is the only farmhouse of this type in the museum. This ingeniously conceived style of farmhouse is primarily found in the northernmost reaches of North Holland. The square shape of the building and pyramid-shaped roof is reminiscent of a cheese-cover ('Stolp' in Dutch) and it is this shape that gives it its name. The farmhouse is in fact a large haymow with the rest of the rooms situated around it. This was very practical. The cows were always nearby and the box beds were built on the side where the hay was, making it nice and warm in the winter.  

Type of farmhouse
'Stolp' (cheese-cover) farmhouse