The Sleeping Alcove @museum.de

F: Box spring beds, innersprung mattresses, bedside lamps or even a dressing table – the Ammerland farmers had none of those.

M: Actually, they didn't even have a bedroom! The whole family: children, parents, grandparents, maids and farmhands slept in specially equipped cupboards – box beds or sleeping alcoves. As you explore this farmhouse, you'll discover these narrow wall beds with their sliding doors made of dark wood in five different places.

F: Being inside them was probably not very comfortable. People slept half upright on straw-filled mattresses, and the filling wasn't changed that often. No doubt the odd mouse, spider or bedbug felt quite at home in the straw!

M: The sleeping alcove used by the farmer and his wife was right behind the hearth area, close to the fire. It wasn't just nice and warm; you also had a good view of the whole house from there, all the way to the front hall. When the cattle stirred or the dog barked... or when the maids and farmhands slipped into each others beds at night – the farmer heard it all.

F: Feel free to take a look inside the alcove. There's a plank running along the top, a kind of shelf. That was where the farmer and his wife, the maid and farmhand would each have kept their special treasures: documents, money and jewellery.