Hahndorf home of Hans Heysen

Hahndorf , originally uploaded by gypsy woman1.

One last highlight before we left Adelaide was a trip into the Adelaide hills to visit Harndorf. Fabio took us in his car and we spent a very pleasant day wandering around this historic german village. It was settled by the Lutherans fleeing Germany in the 1800’s and it has retained its German atmosphere and is a very popular place for a day trip from Adelaide. With interesting galleries, boutiques, antique shops, op shops,cafes and pubs.Being 2nd January it was a public holiday and was crowded with families and tourists enjoying the atmosphere. We had a good roast lunch at the Old Mill pub and it only cost us $7-90 each and was delicious.

The final highlight of the day was a visit to “The Cedars” the home of Hans Heysen. A short way out from the village, the home has been kept as a monument to his work and left as it was when he lived in it. We had an even greater privilege in store as Sheila Heysen, the second wife of David Heysen, son of Hans, was visiting the home and she took us on a tour of the house, telling us many stories and anecdotes of when the family lived here, and explaining the stories behind many of the beautiful paintings hanging in every room. Then we went over to the studio that Hans had purpose-built for him to work in. Around the property of 40 acres there was still many of the magnificent gums that Hans used in his paintings and a novel way of displaying them was to erect a copy of the painting showing the gums in front of the trees that had been used in the painting.It was late afternoon as we walked around and the light on the gums was magical.