Spreading a carpet of sand in a living room. You could call it a unique hobby or even art, but this used to be very normal in Schoonebeek. In the sand-sprinkling farm in Schoonebeek, such a sand carpet can be admired in a Saxon living room.
The Sand Sprinkling Farm, also called Zwaantje Hans-Stokman’s Hof, in Schoonebeek is the only sand strewing farm that can still be admired in the Netherlands. In an old-fashioned living room there is a carpet made of sand with all kinds of shapes and patterns.
Until the beginning of the last century, floor coverings were unknown, so the farmer’s wife applied a floor to the bare surface with fine sand.
“On Saturday, the woman spread a cloth of sand, so that the living area looked neat on Sunday. For the people who came from church, for example,” says Roelie Seinen, manager of De Zandkruidboerderij.
The farmers showed their talent with spreading, one of those artists was Zwaantje Hans. “From 1946 onwards, Zwaantje Hans made larger carpets for tourists, so that people could see the art of spreading more clearly,” Seinen explains.
Spreading is not that easy, because everything is spread by hand. “It’s actually drawing with sand and then the carpet is further made beautiful with the fingers. This way we make different patterns in the sand, I adopted those patterns from Zwaantje himself.”
Zwaantje Hans died in 1978 and in 1986 Seinen became involved with the farm. “I immediately wanted to learn sand spreading and one day become the manager of the museum. I learned the art from her.”
The carpet in the museum does not immediately catch the eye, so occasionally a visitor walks over the carpet. “I’ll stop them,” Seinen jokes. “But sometimes you can’t do anything about it and I don’t want to play a police officer, in the end it will be restored.”
Zwaantje Hans found out from NAM employees that sand-sprinkling in the Schoonebeek living rooms was unique. “Zwaantje had never been outside Schoonebeek, so he thought everyone did this. NAM employees who were received by Zwaantje told her that it was unique.”
In Schoonebeek they do everything they can to ensure that the art of carpet spreading is not lost. “Every year we hold a sand spreading competition at primary schools in Schoonebeek. We are the only one in the Netherlands who still shows this,” Seinen concludes.