If you have ever been to Aphrodite Water Park in Geroskipou, you may well have noticed the ruined buildings next to it. The first time I found them for myself, I assumed, wrongly, that they were the ruins of an old prison. They are in fact, all that remains of a farm that has been there for 100s of years.
Read the blog article and chat about it below...
Yerokipia Farm
Yerokipia Farm
Web Designer / Developer. Currently working on Paphos Life.
Living in Polemi, Cyprus with my wife and daughter.
Living in Polemi, Cyprus with my wife and daughter.
-
cyprusmax47
- Posts: 5207
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2016 10:10 am
- Location: Paphos area since 1982
Re: Yerokipia Farm
Did some research about this old Farm and there are quite interesting details. CMail is wrong with the ownership as it belongs still to a German as one can see on the official plot map of the Government. It is quite a large area in white color saying German Agricultural.
http://www.moi.gov.cy/MOI/tph/tph.nsf/A ... _25000.pdf
The last German owner came up with a lot of new things for Paphos at this time for example to bring the first tractor with spiked wheels and self irrigation..specially the nettles to be exported to German I find very interesting as I used them also when doing my organic farm. This is only a part of the full article:
In the history books of Geroskipou, the estate is described as one of the largest ‘chifliks’ in the region. A chiflik is a Turkish term for a system of land management which was adopted during the Ottoman Empire. It extended around 1,630 hectares and held a significant role in the history of Geroskipou, employing many residents and providing much of the produce for the area.
Its most recent private owners were a German couple, Karl and Emilie Widmaier, who had both been army doctors. They purchased the Gerokipia estate in 1929 from the previous owner, Leandros Kakogiannis, who had gone bankrupt in the economic crisis of 1929-1932.
Widmaier died in 1936 and his wife took over running the estate until her death in 1976. Following the death of her sister Carolina, who was her heir, the estate passed onto the government, who later allocated separate plots to ‘landless’ residents of Geroskipou.
milie (second from left) with family and staff members
Emilie (second from left) with family and staff members
The Widmaiers were not professional farmers and created quite a stir in Geroskipou with their somewhat outlandish farming methods. Widmaier favoured a camel to pull his iron plough, and used other animals to pull his harvester. But they also made a significant improvement to the methods of land cultivation.
The farmer was reportedly the first to import a tractor with spiked wheels.
The farm was also self-irrigated using a large water cistern, and also had a number of sheds where huge amounts of nettles were dried out before being shipped to Germany for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
The buildings also provided pens and stables for animals. Their crops were mainly wheat, barley, beans, vetch, cotton, onions and other vegetables."
Max
http://www.moi.gov.cy/MOI/tph/tph.nsf/A ... _25000.pdf
The last German owner came up with a lot of new things for Paphos at this time for example to bring the first tractor with spiked wheels and self irrigation..specially the nettles to be exported to German I find very interesting as I used them also when doing my organic farm. This is only a part of the full article:
In the history books of Geroskipou, the estate is described as one of the largest ‘chifliks’ in the region. A chiflik is a Turkish term for a system of land management which was adopted during the Ottoman Empire. It extended around 1,630 hectares and held a significant role in the history of Geroskipou, employing many residents and providing much of the produce for the area.
Its most recent private owners were a German couple, Karl and Emilie Widmaier, who had both been army doctors. They purchased the Gerokipia estate in 1929 from the previous owner, Leandros Kakogiannis, who had gone bankrupt in the economic crisis of 1929-1932.
Widmaier died in 1936 and his wife took over running the estate until her death in 1976. Following the death of her sister Carolina, who was her heir, the estate passed onto the government, who later allocated separate plots to ‘landless’ residents of Geroskipou.
milie (second from left) with family and staff members
Emilie (second from left) with family and staff members
The Widmaiers were not professional farmers and created quite a stir in Geroskipou with their somewhat outlandish farming methods. Widmaier favoured a camel to pull his iron plough, and used other animals to pull his harvester. But they also made a significant improvement to the methods of land cultivation.
The farmer was reportedly the first to import a tractor with spiked wheels.
The farm was also self-irrigated using a large water cistern, and also had a number of sheds where huge amounts of nettles were dried out before being shipped to Germany for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
The buildings also provided pens and stables for animals. Their crops were mainly wheat, barley, beans, vetch, cotton, onions and other vegetables."
Max
Re: Yerokipia Farm
Yes, thanks for the info Max. 
Web Designer / Developer. Currently working on Paphos Life.
Living in Polemi, Cyprus with my wife and daughter.
Living in Polemi, Cyprus with my wife and daughter.
-
cyprusmax47
- Posts: 5207
- Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2016 10:10 am
- Location: Paphos area since 1982
Re: Yerokipia Farm
Dominic, your question about the barred windows of the large building: as in the article already mentioned they were drying herbs for export to Germany and this building with open shutters looks for me designed for just doing that....
Max
Re: Yerokipia Farm
I've walked (and driven) around this location many times in the past, and always assumed it was an old abandoned Turkish village / farm area, now left in hibernation by the GCs since 74...
Look forward to reading this fully in the morning, as just now, I'm a bit cream-crackered from driving a day trip to Belgium and back, departing 04:30 for the 130 mile 2hr drive to Dover, ferries out and back (with 80 miles return from Calais to Adinkirke, Belgium, then head home around the M25 and M1. This took 3 flipping hours, early on a Monday afternoon, but typical...
What was NOT typical, were the mid-afternoon temperatures here in SE England at present! From Dover back to Luton today (which was 13:15 to 16:15 BST), the ambient temp guage never moved out of the 30-33ºC range! Were we hotter here in UK than Paphos, I wonder?
Anyway, back on topic tommorow, after another humid and sweaty night here, when deep sleep seems impossible...
Cheers- AL
Look forward to reading this fully in the morning, as just now, I'm a bit cream-crackered from driving a day trip to Belgium and back, departing 04:30 for the 130 mile 2hr drive to Dover, ferries out and back (with 80 miles return from Calais to Adinkirke, Belgium, then head home around the M25 and M1. This took 3 flipping hours, early on a Monday afternoon, but typical...
What was NOT typical, were the mid-afternoon temperatures here in SE England at present! From Dover back to Luton today (which was 13:15 to 16:15 BST), the ambient temp guage never moved out of the 30-33ºC range! Were we hotter here in UK than Paphos, I wonder?
Anyway, back on topic tommorow, after another humid and sweaty night here, when deep sleep seems impossible...
Cheers- AL
Gone but not forgotten...
Re: Yerokipia Farm
Aawwwww, come on Al, were the fags really worth all that time and hassle????
Temps on my car were actually 35 today mate
Though I think Nicosia may have been 37/40
Temps on my car were actually 35 today mate
Though I think Nicosia may have been 37/40
Re: Yerokipia Farm
They certainly were, Jacs! Once every 9 months, it's a no-brainer, with decent Belgian rolling baccy at £5-80 per 50g pouch (Yellow Flandria). On the P&O ferry (where they have to use French prices) it's now £13 per pouch! In Tesco UK it's now approaching £20 per pouch- Madness!!!
In Belgium, Old Holborn and Golden Viriginia are now up to around £9 nearly, so I wonder what the current 'hooky' trade in UK pubs is selling at? Must be somewhere between 9 and 20 quid, I'm sure?
And the current baccy prices in Paps for Old Holborn, Golden Virginia, Amber Leaf, ARE????
Cheers- AL (just out of interest)
In Belgium, Old Holborn and Golden Viriginia are now up to around £9 nearly, so I wonder what the current 'hooky' trade in UK pubs is selling at? Must be somewhere between 9 and 20 quid, I'm sure?
And the current baccy prices in Paps for Old Holborn, Golden Virginia, Amber Leaf, ARE????
Cheers- AL (just out of interest)
Gone but not forgotten...
