Bake 150 loaves of bread? No problem at all for Maika and Wolfgang. Their kitchen used to be a bakery. The huge original oven in it still works perfectly. The bakery is part of an old mill estate in the Palatinate, which the couple bought 18 years ago.
There are only a few stones left of the old mill. The oldest ones could be 1,000 years old. The mill building itself was completely burnt down in 1910. What Maika and Wolfgang found when they bought it were several small buildings in need of renovation, including the bakehouse - dark and the ceilings black from the smoke of decades.
When Wolfgang and Maika visited the property, Maika saw one thing above all: an endless amount of work. Wolfgang, on the other hand, saw the uniqueness and the possibilities. He was enthusiastic about the idea of preserving cultural heritage here. To have something that not everyone has and to make something of it - that was exactly his dream. "After the tour, he had little hearts in his eyes," says his wife Maika. Today she knows what Wolfgang saw in his mind's eye back then.
Wolfgang was immediately in love with the huge old oven. It was state-of-the-art in 1960, so the bakery had spent a lot of money on it! An original from the Leibrecht company. According to Wolfgang's research, the best place to find one of these is in a museum. The estate agent advised him to remove the huge oven from the future kitchen to create more space. For Wolfgang, however, it was immediately clear that this would be the highlight and the focal point of his new home. And that's exactly what happened: There is now a big baking event several times a year. 150 loaves of bread fit inside. And you can also use the oven for heating. Or to quickly dry the laundry in front of it.
Almost everyone in the village knows the home of Wolfgang and Maika and their three children. Right next to the bakery used to be the corner store, something like the center of the village. The old store counter and the grocer's shelf are now in the local history museum. The former sales area is now her living room, furnished in warm, dark colors. Wolfgang has connected the old bakery and the old store with a small half-timbered building that he built himself. His motto: it should look old and good. As if it had always been like this. There were no monument protection requirements.
When Maika and Wolfgang moved in in 2006, only a provisional kitchen, a bathroom and a room were ready. Three months later, the first of three children was born. It felt like they had been living on a real building site for almost eight years. The children didn't need a sandpit. Wolfgang renovated tirelessly on his own. The teacher taught himself all the manual work. Family and friends helped. Wolfgang was and still is always on the lookout for old building materials. In this way, they were able to keep the costs down. They also received a grant of 10,000 euros as part of the village renewal program to renovate the bakery and extend the living space.
Wolfgang has invested countless hours of work in his dream home. A former servants' house was partially demolished. The barn needed a new roof. Here alone, 17,000 plain tiles had to be taken off the roof and three kilometers of roof battens had to be put back on. Wolfgang's vision: In summer, the courtyard should be the focal point. Having a place for the barbecue and a fireplace was a purchase criterion for the Palatinate native at the time.
Wolfgang is a passionate collector. You can see that everywhere in the house and yard. But Maika also likes the charm of old things. Some say it's like an antique shop in their home. For her, it's coziness. She comes from Dortmund and never really wanted to live in the village. Now she never wants to leave her old bakery in Venningen in the Palatinate.
A film by Uta Lemme (editor), Lars Reuther (camera), Paul Heydecke (camera & sound), Frank Rosam (editor).
00:00 Living in an old bakery
00:51 Kitchen
05:35 Connecting building
07:20 Living room
09:00 Office and music room
09:24 Hallway
09:57 Upper floor