‘The forest is a poor man’s fur coat’ I heard this saying as we were walking through the National Museum, and it struck a chord with me. Over half of Estonia is covered by forest, and you can see how much they value it in their management, interpretation and visitor centres, and in so many of their natural wooden products. I was very impressed with RMK, especially with the design of their visitor centres and interpretation
Our structured course led our two car convoy through the mountains to visit many examples of innovation and practical solutions to the issues facing the rural economy. We visited traditional producers of almonds, figs, grapes (raisins), herbs, cheese and smoked sausages. At Kato Drys museum the connection with people from the past and their stories was both moving and engaging, and personal tours reinforced that authenticity.
Overall this was an extremely useful course. The Estonian approach to interpretation is generally elegant and the use of sustainable materials taught me that I can seize the opportunity to consider similar pared down approaches in my own practice. Highlights of the trip for me (apart from all the wonderful food) were visiting the convent and the Russian Old Believers Praying House.
About the Course “You should come back in May” was perhaps the phrase of the trip! We were told we’d see Slovakia’s biodiversity at its best in spring. The good news? For woodlands, we were there at the right time, or nearly so. But we were all really delighted with our experience of Slovakia’s biodiversity […]
Our Slovenian host Bojan had arranged for a cultural exchange evening where three ladies from the Society of Rural Women volunteered to teach four of us how to cook traditional Slovenian dishes, while three more were taught by the remaining three Scots how to make traditional Scottish dishes. This all went smoothly and during this hour, the wonderful ladies from the Society of Rural Women had been busy putting together the final touches for the meal and were ready right on cue to bring out the food. We took it in turn to stand with our respective teacher/pupil to talk through the dish produced – Gordon gave a brilliant introduction to the haggis! And that was it; we tucked in and ate and talked with various people, we taught many of them the dance Strip The Willow with varying success, although everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. In return we were taught a traditional Slovenian dance – in comparison it was very tame and a good way to wind down the evening!