En accord avec notre vision de la vie, avec notre projet de vie, le jardin a été biologique et d'une très grande biodiversité et ce dès ses débuts.
Nos parents nous ont enseigné à vivre en accord avec la nature, de la respecter et préserver pour notre génération, celle des nos enfants et pour les générations d'après, qu'il s'agisse des aliments, de notre nourriture ou notre philosophie de vie.
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Nous sommes venus le 30.06.1991
20 ans
Petite, chaque année, j'ai passé de nombreuses semaines en France avec mes parents. Leurs nombreux amis français m'ont beaucoup marquée. Souvent, ma mère m'a parlé d'eux, de la France... et de V.G. d.E. qui a vu le jour à Coblence (en Allemagne, on dit Koblentz) dans la maison de ma grand-mère !Ces liens ont fait que j'ai toujours souhaité venir en France.
En 1990, Lutz -mon mari- et moi revisitons les lieux que mes parents m'ont fait connaître... et nous passons par Thermes-Magnoac... et nous remarquons une vieille ferme : de la route, on ne voyait qu'un toit au milieu d'un champ.
Bien que très abîmée par les ans, elle nous plut cette ferme gasconne de 1741, sur son lopin de terre planté de quelques arbres. La chère Juliette -qui en était propriétaire- se mit vite d'accord avec sa famille pour nous la vendre.
Le matériau argile –la "terre", la terre mère- nous accompagne, Lutz et moi, comme il a accompagné l'humanité entière au long de la vie. C'est notre métier (depuis 27 ans et après un long apprentissage) que de façonner cette noble matière, c'est notre vie que d'entrer avec elle en voyage. Et jusqu'à ce jour, c'est un voyage au cœur de l'art avec son lot de défis nouveaux et de découvertes innombrables.
Alors, en 1991, nous cessons notre activité de potiers en Allemagne et nous venons nous établir ici, à la Maison Terrade de Thermes-Magnoac, avec nos enfants Sara, Christian et Catherine-Caroline.
C'est de nos mains -et avec l'aide de nos merveilleux enfants- que nous relevons peu à peu (et d'abord par le toit) les ruines de cette construction pour en faire une belle maison.
Nombreux furent ceux qui pensaient que nous ne pourrions pas survivre ici plus d'un an,,,
D'autres sont venus nous encourager... et nous avons réouvert "La Poterie Hillen"... en France !
La propriété comprend 5 hectares et un chemin historique menant de Thermes-Magnoac à Boulogne-sur-Gesse. Au moment de notre acquisition, elle portait 6 arbres : 2 chênes bicentenaires, 1 frêne bicentenaire, 1 magnifique châtaigner, 1 sapin noble et 1 tilleul.
L'idée de créer un jardin est venue très tôt.
La première année, c'était en 1991, nous avons tenté de faire pousser des légumes dans un sol dur comme de la pierre... Il nous fallait améliorer la terre et des arbres manquaient pour nous ombrager. Après des années d'exploitation agricole, il n'y avait quasiment plus de haies longeant les fossés. Nous avons commencé à les reboiser avec des arbres et arbustes endémiques et notre objectif fut alors d'assurer la biodiversité pour que la flore, la faune et l'Homme puissent coexister en parfaite harmonie. Il nous tenait à cœur de redonner au terrain son caractère, sa personnalité d'origine. Au fil des années, nous avons accueilli arbrisseaux, plantes vivaces, fleurs, légumes et quelques fleurs sauvages dans notre jardin. Aujourd'hui, c'est un total de plus de 8000 plantations que nous avons effectué.
Petit à petit, le jardin s'est agrandi. Des visiteurs sont venus et se sont senti si bien que nous avons décidé d'ouvrir le jardin au public.
Il est aménagé sur plusieurs niveaux et son thème évolue au fil des saisons. Nous lui incorporons régulièrement des objets dits dynamiques pour lui conférer une apparence nouvelle. Nous associons des zones immobiles et des éléments "accroche-regard" qui, de par leur forme organique, peuvent s'y intégrer de façon harmonieuse et naturelle. Il est donc, pour nous, le prolongement de notre création artistique et s'accorde avec le projet de vie que nous avons choisi. Tout a été financé par la création de nos céramiques ; pas de vacances pour nous mais aucun regret...car nous avions beaucoup voyagé auparavant.
Je me vois aujourd'hui comme une européenne sans frontières ni murs dans la tête. Mes racines ont bien pris dans ma nouvelle patrie. Lutz aussi a de la famille ici. L'amour a uni les Français et les Allemands.
Mais, ce jardin, nous l'avons aussi créé pour vous -vous qui venez de la France entière dans le petit village de Thermes-Magnoac- nous l'avons créé pour montrer que tout un chacun est un artiste, pour affirmer -qu'avec les moyens les plus simples- il est possible de créer des merveilles, de rendre notre monde plus beau. Et ce monde, il convient de le respecter, d'en prendre soin, car notre terre est le cadeau le plus précieux qui soit et offrir un espace protégé aux animaux, aux végétaux et le préserver, c'est la plus belle chose que nous puissions faire.
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| imagination , papier, terre ....couleur, branches, carton....et voila c'est parti |
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| l'idée prends forme |
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| 2009---> 2013 beaucoup de travail, l'amour pour cette terre |
30.06.2011, quelques vingt ans après...
Merci à vous!
Viens Lutz, nous avons encore beaucoup de travaux au jardin à faire.
Nous fêtons les 20 ans un peu plus tard, peut-être en mois de Septembre......
Nous fêtons les 20 ans un peu plus tard, peut-être en mois de Septembre......
avec vous !
When I was little, I spent every year many weeks in France with my parents. The many French friends we had, were a strong influence on me. My mother often told me about them, about France…and V.G-Est. who was born in Koblenz in my grandmother’s house!
These connections made me always wanting to come to France.
In 1990, Lutz and I visited again the places my parents made me discover…we came through Thermes-Magnoac…and we spot an old farm: from the road, we could only distinguish a roof in the middle of a field.
Even though it was badly damaged by the years, we liked this Gascogny farmhouse from 1741 on a patch of land, lined with a few trees. Dear Juliette who was the owner quickly came to an agreement with her family in order to sell us the house.
The material clay -the earthenware, mother earth- accompanies Lutz and me as it did for the entire Humanity throughout life. It is our profession (for 27 years and after a long apprenticeship) to fashion this noble material. We have journeyed alongside it throughout our lives. To this day, it is a travel to the core of Art with its share of new challenges and countless discoveries.
Therefore, in 1991, we ceased our activity as potters in Flörsheim-Wicker and to set up here, at the house Terrade of Thermes-Magnoac with our children Christian, Sara and Cathérine-Caroline.
It is with our hands and the help of our children that we rebuild, little by little, the ruins of this edifice (starting with the roof) into a beautiful house.
Many were those who thought that we could not survive here over a year…
Others came to encourage us….and we reopened the pottery “La poterie Hillen”…in France!
The property comprises 5 hectares and a historical path leading from Thermes-Magnoac to Boulogne-sur-Gesse. Upon purchasing, it had six trees: 2 two-hundred-year-old oak trees, 1 two-hundred-year-old ash tree, one magnificent chestnut and one lime tree.
The idea of creating a garden came very soon.
The first year, it was in 1991, we tried to make vegetables grow in a soil that was as hard as stone. We had to enhance the soil and we lacked of trees to shade us. After years of farming, there were almost no hedges left along the ditches. We started to reforest with endemic trees and shrubs, our goal was to ensure biodiversity so that flora, fauna and men could coexist in perfect harmony. Giving back to the land its character and its original personality was close to our heart. Over the year, we welcomed small trees, perennial plants, flowers, vegetables and some savage flowers in our garden. Today, we have done over 8000 plantings.
Little by little, the garden became bigger. Visitors came to our garden and felt so well that we decided to open the garden to the public.
The garden is laid out on several levels and its theme changes with the season. We regularly integrate so-called « dynamic » objects into the garden to give it a new appearance. We combine immobile areas with "eye catchers" which thanks to their organic form integrate seamlessly and naturally. Therefore, it is for us an extension of our artistic creation and consistent with the life plan we have chosen. Everything has been financed by the creation of our ceramics, meaning no holidays for us (we have travelled a lot before).
Today, I see myself as a European without frontiers or walls in my head. My roots are well ingrained in my new homeland. Lutz has also family here. Love has united French and Germans.
This garden, we have also created it for you who come from all over France in this little town of Thermes-Magnoac. We created it to show that everyone is an artist, to say that with the simplest means it is possible to create marvellous things and to make our world even more beautiful.
We should respect this world, take care of it because our earth is the most precious gift of all and provide a save place for animals, plants. Preserving it is the most beautiful thing we can possibly do.
28.05.2010, some twenty years later…
When I was little, I spent every year many weeks in France with my parents. The many French friends we had, were a strong influence on me. My mother often told me about them, about France…and V.G-Est. who was born in Koblenz in my grandmother’s house!
These connections made me always wanting to come to France.
In 1990, Lutz and I visited again the places my parents made me discover…we came through Thermes-Magnoac…and we spot an old farm: from the road, we could only distinguish a roof in the middle of a field.
Even though it was badly damaged by the years, we liked this Gascogny farmhouse from 1741 on a patch of land, lined with a few trees. Dear Juliette who was the owner quickly came to an agreement with her family in order to sell us the house.
The material clay -the earthenware, mother earth- accompanies Lutz and me as it did for the entire Humanity throughout life. It is our profession (for 27 years and after a long apprenticeship) to fashion this noble material. We have journeyed alongside it throughout our lives. To this day, it is a travel to the core of Art with its share of new challenges and countless discoveries.
Therefore, in 1991, we ceased our activity as potters in Flörsheim-Wicker and to set up here, at the house Terrade of Thermes-Magnoac with our children Christian, Sara and Cathérine-Caroline.
It is with our hands and the help of our children that we rebuild, little by little, the ruins of this edifice (starting with the roof) into a beautiful house.
Many were those who thought that we could not survive here over a year…
Others came to encourage us….and we reopened the pottery “La poterie Hillen”…in France!
The property comprises 5 hectares and a historical path leading from Thermes-Magnoac to Boulogne-sur-Gesse. Upon purchasing, it had six trees: 2 two-hundred-year-old oak trees, 1 two-hundred-year-old ash tree, one magnificent chestnut and one lime tree.
The idea of creating a garden came very soon.
The first year, it was in 1991, we tried to make vegetables grow in a soil that was as hard as stone. We had to enhance the soil and we lacked of trees to shade us. After years of farming, there were almost no hedges left along the ditches. We started to reforest with endemic trees and shrubs, our goal was to ensure biodiversity so that flora, fauna and men could coexist in perfect harmony. Giving back to the land its character and its original personality was close to our heart. Over the year, we welcomed small trees, perennial plants, flowers, vegetables and some savage flowers in our garden. Today, we have done over 8000 plantings.
Little by little, the garden became bigger. Visitors came to our garden and felt so well that we decided to open the garden to the public.
The garden is laid out on several levels and its theme changes with the season. We regularly integrate so-called « dynamic » objects into the garden to give it a new appearance. We combine immobile areas with "eye catchers" which thanks to their organic form integrate seamlessly and naturally. Therefore, it is for us an extension of our artistic creation and consistent with the life plan we have chosen. Everything has been financed by the creation of our ceramics, meaning no holidays for us (we have travelled a lot before).
Today, I see myself as a European without frontiers or walls in my head. My roots are well ingrained in my new homeland. Lutz has also family here. Love has united French and Germans.
This garden, we have also created it for you who come from all over France in this little town of Thermes-Magnoac. We created it to show that everyone is an artist, to say that with the simplest means it is possible to create marvellous things and to make our world even more beautiful.
We should respect this world, take care of it because our earth is the most precious gift of all and provide a save place for animals, plants. Preserving it is the most beautiful thing we can possibly do.
28.05.2010, some twenty years later…
