Of course, farmer Christine Erharter can hear something when she sits in her favourite spot, outside on the wooden bench next to the front door. The busy buzzing of bees tending to the early bloomers in the garden, for example, or the crickets that start chirping for a few months around this time every year.
Anyone visiting the Siedlerhof in Hopfgarten for the first time as a city dweller is almost irritated at first. Because above all, you hear nothing. No neighbours, no traffic noise - just the pulsating vibration of nature that surrounds the proud farm. "The peace and quiet is the biggest surprise for many guests," says Christine.
The endless views, the sunny, secluded location, the beautiful Brixental Valley-style farmhouse - there are many other reasons why people want to spend their holidays on the Siedlerhof. But the most important reason is probably that the farm is not primarily a holiday destination - but a mountain farm where people work hard. The Erharters have 24 dairy cows, and the farm is also home to a Haflinger and a pony, rabbits, chickens and cats. Just looking after the animals is enough to fill the day. Going on holiday where others work, perhaps even putting on your own wellies and helping to muck out the stables - that sounds contradictory at first. But for more and more people, this image corresponds exactly to their idea of a successful holiday.
There are 318 farms in Tyrol that belong to the Austrian "Urlaub am Bauernhof" association, including the Siedlerhof. For almost thirty years, the association has been supporting farms in developing a holiday offer as a second mainstay alongside farming. Care is taken to ensure that member farms fulfil certain quality criteria: For example, farms must be actively farmed and the cultivated area must be at least two hectares in size. There is also an upper limit for the number of beds permitted. According to the association, the occupancy rate has risen every year until recently - the offer to spend your holiday on a Tyrolean farm seems to be hitting a nerve.
"Going into the barn and stroking a calf is a real experience for many people," says Christine. She knows the needs of her guests, some of whom she has been welcoming to the Siedlerhof for several decades. Families with children are particularly enthusiastic about the offer. The little ones are kept busy all day long: They collect their own breakfast eggs, take the horses to the paddock or feed the rabbits. They learn a lot about respectful interaction with nature: you have to be careful with suckler cows with calves, Stella the pony needs her rest because she has asthma, while Haflinger mare Cindy is deeply relaxed and goes along with almost everything. "The children quickly learn to read the animals' body language," says Christine. Meanwhile, the parents can enjoy the peace and quiet, go for a short hike or help with the hay harvest.
But it's not just families who spend their holidays at the Siedlerhof. "More and more young people are also coming," says the farmer's wife. "Their expectations have changed." In the past, her guests wanted to experience as much as possible, sometimes taking a day trip to Innsbruck or the Krimml Waterfalls. Nowadays, they arrive and above all want to get away from it all, take a deep breath and reconnect with nature and farming. How does she notice this? "The first question is no longer about the Wi-Fi password."
An experience that Gerti Maas from the Tiefhof in Nauders: "I think people can increasingly do without luxury. Or rather, they want a different kind of luxury," says Gerti. The two holiday flats at the Tiefhof are stylishly but simply furnished, have everything you need - and no TVs. On the contrary: "We realise that our guests don't want to be entertained from morning to night," says Gerti. "They come here to relax." The Tiefhof is slightly tucked away at 1,570 metres in the Nauderer Hochtal valley. The farm itself is the end point of the access road. Then there is nothing but high moorland, streams, lakes and the dense deep forest. The farm is located in the border triangle, and it is only a short walk to the border with Italy or Switzerland. A lovely afternoon excursion for guests, if they are not too busy to lend a hand.
They have cows, horses, goats, two pigs and chickens on the low farm. The organic cycle is extremely important to the Maas family, which means that the number of animals depends on the amount of feed they can produce themselves. "Otherwise you'd have to buy additional feed, which would mean too much manure for the fields - we don't do that," says Gerti. The animals are slaughtered on the farm itself, which avoids unnecessary stress for the animals, and the meat can then be bought in the farm shop or delivered to a friendly hotel.
Gerti is delighted to be able to pass on her philosophy to guests and show them what sustainability really looks like in practice. The Maas family often sits down with them and talks about the turbulent history of the farm, smugglers in the deep forest or the Christ Child, who used to only bring a present for one of the six children. "The children listen to stories like this with wide eyes - it's great," says Gerti. She enjoys talking to people who would otherwise not come into contact with her world and knowing that they are spending days at the Tiefhof that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Eighty per cent of overnight stays at the farm are made up of regular guests.
Hany Plattner-Dvorak also knows that people don't just go on holiday to a farm because they want to relax in a wonderful idyll. She is the farmer of the Thumeserhof in the Schmirntal valley, less than ten kilometres from the Brenner motorway as the crow flies. In reality, the traffic axis and the wild and romantic valley are worlds apart.
The Schmirntal valley is more suitable for active days than almost any other area in Tyrol: only a few people live in the small community, their houses and farms are scattered across the lush valley meadows, framed by a mighty mountain backdrop. Alpine farming has characterised the townscape for centuries, otherwise nature is as good as untouched, a valley like a quiet oasis. Here you can fully immerse yourself in the life of the mountain farmers, it doesn't take long to strip away all remnants of the hustle and bustle. After the first day at the latest, you will no longer be surprised that the only supermarket in the valley has a three-hour lunch break.
Those who visit the Thumeserhof from the end of June to mid-July could - depending on your point of view - be lucky or unlucky: This is when the hay has to be brought in, and almost everything on the steep slopes of the alpine pasture is still done by hand - a lot of work that has to be completed in a short space of time. "We harness everything and everyone," laughs Hany. Most guests probably see it more as luck. "The work is exhausting, but the sense of community is always fantastic," says Hany. At the end of a summer day like this, the guest can be justifiably proud of themselves. And who knows, maybe Hany has a good herbal ointment to help tired limbs.
