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Denmark – welcome to Tolne

Monday 1st June
So today is our first day at work in Tolne, Denmark. We’re at a ceramic workshop/ B&B/ cafe – www.tolnegjaestgivergaard.dk. We arrived last night having got the ferry from Gothenburg to Frederikshavn (3.5 hours) and then the train to Tolne (15 mins).
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So it’s certainly a bit different here. Our workday starts with a morning briefing at 0930hrs – well really it’s just a chat about what was achieved yesterday and what needs to be done today. The place belongs to Greg (an American from Wisconsin) and his wife, Janne (German). They also have 3 children, 2 cats and a very shy dog, Lucy.
The ceramic studio is for Janne and Greg to work together and collaborate with other artists from around the world, making ceramics by hand, using local materials, and firing techniques involving wood, salt, and soda. There are also 2 other volunteers here Momoko (Japanese) and Alejandro (Argentina).
So back to the programme – there’s a chat about work that needs to be done and meals for the next few days and who’s taking time off and when. Greg likes to make sure volunteers get time off and make the most of it by getting away – apparently it makes for a happier/well balanced volunteer. The work ongoing at the moment is fixing up the bathrooms and fixing up some of the guest rooms. So Momoko and Alejandro are going to continue grouting the bathrooms and Daz and I are going to hang lining paper in one of the rooms. Daz ( the dark horse) has had wall papering experience – but I haven’t. So Daz takes charge and we paper the room.
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It takes all day with lunch and tea breaks but we get it finished and Greg and Janne are pleased with the result. Once finished we take Lucy for a walk through the Beech woods that surround this area – and it really is beautiful and fun especially when Lucy decides she needs to chase the Lily leaves on the lake and jumps in for a swim.
Dinner is a collaborative affair – we’re all in the kitchen making meatballs and cooking them on the stove. Of course it is a huge kitchen and there’s plenty of room for everyone to muck in and we’re cooking for 9 – and not a vegetarian in sight!
So Day 1 done and it’s been great and best of all there’s hot water all the time. Of course now Daz can have a hot shower daily (like he craved at the farm) he’s bound to revert to his old form of one a week to match his undies change!

Tuesday 2nd June
This morning Greg has gone out on his bike so in his absence we do some puddling and/or wedging. Greg and Janne are building pizza ovens for their friends and the clay needed for a traditional woodfired clay pizza oven is a clay sand mix. To mix the 2 we first throw down a layer of sand then cover this with blocks of clay, then another layer of sand and so on until we have a tower. Then we tread it together in a circular fashion in our bare feet until the 2 are thoroughly mixed, adding more clay and sand until there’s sufficient material for the oven. So Daz and I have mixed enough for one oven.
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We’ve just finished and we’re having a coffee break when Greg gets back. They have 6 Norwegian cyclists arriving today and there’s 2 Polish contractors staying so we need to prepare for their arrival. So we spend the remainder of the day cleaning and tidying and fixing up the bathrooms. Then the Norwegians arrive soaked to the skin and it’s all hands to the pump to greet them, make them comfortable, hide all the workgear upstairs and then make dinner for them – a double cheese and tomato lasagne. After dinner there’s a considerable clean up operation in the kitchen and dining room.
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Wednesday 3rd June
The plan today is a quick blitz in the kitchen, finish the bathrooms, paint the bedroom we prepared on Monday and make more clay for the pizza ovens because at the moment there’s only enough for one. However the plan doesn’t survive first contact with Greg. It takes all of us all morning to sort out the kitchen and then the guest house assessor cancels her 2pm appointment. Having found paint for the bedroom it transpires that there aren’t any rollers etc so that job is postponed until Janne buys us some. The bathrooms are also stalled when the universal hoses etc are found to be not that universal and are unfit for purpose. The fall back position – Ali is left to clean the bathroom tiles with vinegar and Daz and I are sent to the studio for more wedging. We need to add more sand to the mix we have from Tuesday and wedge it. So we add 7 buckets of sand but the sand is so wet that the clay becomes mud like and will never hold the form required for the pizza oven. So then we add powdered clay to dry out the mix. We add nearly half a sack of powdered clay which is like adding icing sugar to a mix – the dust goes everywhere but with clay it’s not so pleasant to inhale. Finally we have a pile of clay of reasonable consistency that will need to be put out in the sun tomorrow to dry further.
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We finish at 4 but then we take Lucy for a walk and then there’s dinner preparation, laying the table and then cleaning up afterwards.
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Thursday 4th June
Greg is out today so it’s just Janne running the show. We paint the bedroom we lined on Monday. It seems awfully patchy so it’ll probably need another coat.
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Then we move a sink and shelf to make more room in the kitchen and then do some weeding in the vegetable garden.
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We finish at 4 and take advantage of the gorgeous weather and take Lucy for a walk to the stone circle just outside the village.
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At about half 6 it’s dinner preparation and then clean up.

Friday 5th June
Busy day today. First thing there’s a cleanup after the Norwegians, breakfast and then doing their rooms and cleaning and hoovering throughout the house. Then at 10.30 with the car loaded with material we’re off to Tversted to build pizza ovens. We manage to build 2 but it takes 5 of us most of the day to do it. First Greg prepares the door arch, then behind that we make a sand mound – this will be the oven space. Over that Greg moulds on clay blocks. This is covered with a layer of insulation made of blown clay, mixed with clay powder and water. Finally we put on a layer of chalk mortar. Each stage is given time to ‘go off’ so we alternate between each oven. Finally we empty out the sand that formed the original mould.
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Finally we’re done and Nils takes us to the beach and treats us all to ice cream from the famous “Blue Hut”, which are fab! After a quick paddle in the cold sea it’s home for dinner.
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Saturday 6th June
Today is our day off and since Greg has arranged to have an end of course dayout with his Japanese students at Faarupsommerland, an amusement park, we go along for the ride. Momoko comes along too to add authentic Japanese flavour. Once we’re there we leave Greg and Momoko to the students and we go off to enjoy the rides. Fortunately the day has started wet so the park isn’t too crowded and we don’t have to queue too much so we go on the good rides over and over. The day soon clears into a gorgeous sunny day and we mess around on the trampolines, the rifle alley and a buried bouncy balloon and on the teacups which Daz has got spinning so fast I can’t focus on anything and struggle to hold my head up. What a great day!
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Sunday 7th June
Today we paint the ceiling of the guestroom and put a second coat on the walls. That’s all done soon after lunch so hopefully if it’s up to standard we’ll be able to clean up, lay the carpet and use the room for guests.
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Then we start on the wood pile that’s at the top of the garden. It needs to be cut down to useable lengths either for the wood burning stove or for the kiln.
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Once we’re done for the day we take Lucy for a walk and Iben decides to come along so we take her to the swings.
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2 replies on “Denmark – welcome to Tolne”

I was going to do CIPD (boring!) for my Resettlement. I am now thinking of doing all the CTP building type courses and my bike repair course instead as they will be more useful than CIPD for my travels, going by what you guys have been up to the last few months 🙂

Hi Lee, I would definitely say the building ones would come in handy, I know a little, but wish I could plaster and Little plumbing as this would have been real handy!! All the best, Daz

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