Rolling, fertile ploughlands, pastures stretching to the bank of the river Laaber, Isar, Vils, Bina, Rott ... patches of woodland on the higher ground. Lower Bavaria has been farming country, dotted with brick and timber houses, since time immemorial. The Kochhof farm was built in the country between the rivers Rott and Inn; the Heilmeierhof originates from a village on the edge of the broad Isar Valley; the Lehnerhof stood amidst the hopyards of the Hallertau region; and the original site of the Schusteröderhof is not far from all these buildings´new home: the Massing Open-Air Museum.

Set up in 1969, the museum was one of the first of its kind in Bavaria. Initially, it was planned to be a refuge only for the Rott Valley´s real rustic gems: for its timber houses, painted cupboards and chests, Kröningen pottery, embroiderywork and handturned woodwork. Today, however, having added one farmhouse to the next, the museum displays everyday rural reality. Thus, the Marxensölde ushered in the world of the smallholder, the Kochhof the fascination of agrarian technology: artesian wells, tractors, vaulted cowsheds, enamel pans, dishes and buckets. Orchard, furrows, hedgerows and avenues have grown up - things are just as they once were.