Dambækgaard – field-to-table cooking on a farm from 1805
Dambækgaard was moved out of the nearby village of Endeslev in 1805, when Danish farms were being spread across the land instead of clustered in villages. Parts of the buildings date from that move.
In 1935 the Dambæk family built a new farmhouse. Hans was the last Dambæk to live here – and, fortunately, he never got round to modernising it much.
Jan and Kirstine had looked at more than 60 farms across Zealand, Funen and Falster, most of them renovated until the charm was gone. This one still looked the way it did when it was built. They took over in July 2010 and have restored it ever since on one principle: you should not be able to tell.
The dream was to live off the land, as close to pre-industrial principles as possible. In 2015 the family joined WWOOF, the worldwide network where volunteers get board, lodging and hands-on learning about self-sufficiency and organic farming in exchange for their work.
It was some of those volunteers who eventually persuaded Jan and Kirstine to open the farm to more people than the ones sleeping in the spare room – and planted the idea of using the buildings to share what they had learned.
Ever since, the aim has been to show guests that a more sustainable way of living can also be a more pleasant one.
It shows in how they build – reusing materials and keeping the carbon footprint as low as they can – in the upcycled furniture and fittings, and above all in the kitchen, where Kirstine’s farmhouse cooking starts with what the farm and its neighbours produce. And it shows on Jan’s tours of the farm, where the animals, the crops and even the wastewater system all come with a story.
Would you like to visit, or add a tour of the farm to your day with us? Write to us and Kirstine will get back to you.
We usually reply within a couple of days.
