Event: Switzerland

Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg

When:	12 Apr - 31 Oct 2008 (annual)
Where:	Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg
Costs:	SFr18; 6-16 yrs SFr9
Opening Hours:	Daily 10am-5pm

The Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg recreates the rural life of Swiss peasants at the turn of the 19th century, providing a taste of authentic Switzerland. Activities include encounters with farmyard animals, oil pressing, saddlery and pottery.

As part of this ambitious project, more than 90 farmhouses from every canton and region of the Swiss confederation were painstakingly dismantled and transported stone by stone to the Ballenberg site, where they were reconstructed. They now form a complex which houses traditional craftsmen and farming methods.

The Bernese Oberland, with its lakes and mountains, is the ideal location for this museum. There's plenty to appeal to families, from lace-making to a cheese factory and animal nursery.