In the village of Laren, in North Holland, in the region referred to as Het Gooi, there is an old house on Zevenend (“Seven End”) street, number 28B. It is half of a larger structure, or two under one, as they are known. Semi-detached we would say.

At one time, a very long time ago, they were built by the village blacksmith. Only after, he had built the smithy in the back, with a large forge. There, in the smithy, the blacksmith would shoe horses, he would make gates and ornamental pieces of rod iron. We must imagine he also fashioned the wheels for carts and wagons, perhaps the mouth bits for horses and countless links of chain. Everything a village of farmers and sheep herders would require for life and commerce.

Later, when his son Nico was still just a boy, the Germans came and setup a post in the village. Nico’s father would shoe their horses and, in return, receive the rations necessary to keep his family fed and under roof during time of war. Nico himself would often sneak about the post, likely with other equally small fellow conspirators, and see what trouble they were able to get into.  They would find things that they could take without much notice. Little bits, here and there. Then, larger bits. Bits like bullets, and other armory, hand grenades perhaps. And he would take these back to the smithy and store them in the large room above the forge. In a little hiding place he had, just beside the hot chimney of the forge with all of those thousands of bits of red hot ember that circled and danced and flew up, up, up out of the chimney. There, he would store all of the explosive treasures of which he had managed to relieve the German army. And happily for Nico’s family and for Zevenend 28B, Nico’s father did finally discover the treasure, before the explosive bits and the hot ember bits were introduced to each other.

Nico would later come to take on the business himself. Carrying on the blacksmith tradition for a second generation in Laren. Nico would add other trades to his business that came to that smithy. He would also come to build pieces of iron art that remain within the town. Any number of residents of the small quaint cottages with the thatched roofs and Hobbiton rounded paned windows can point out various gates or wind vanes around their homes that came to be through the forged fire at Zevenend 28B.

The old forge is no longer, but the house and the smithy remain.

And then, came the Tillys. We are now the proud owners of this piece of history and are embarking on a complete restoration. We will blog to our friends and family over the coming months on our progress and how to navigate the world of remodeling in the Netherlands.