A firesoul came to Kerteminde - host article

A firesoul came to Kerteminde
Marianne is a true native of Funen. She is born and raised in Odense, where she and her family had a summer house in Hasmark by Otterup. Marianne used to love going to the coast, living in the house - peace in soul and mind. When Marianne’s sister decided to sell the summer house, Marianne immediately took a decision to move from Odense to one of Funen’s many coast cities and live. She had to be able to be close to the ocean. Marianne began her research.

She chose Kerteminde. As the heavily gifted woman, within crafts and old beautiful things - she is truly addicted to using her creativity and independence and has done for many years, - Kerteminde was the obvious choice.

Kerteminde is a theater- and revue city, has an active shopping- and city life, had many tourists every single year, and - back then - did not have any shops within crafts or homemade art, and last - but not least - had a harbor lying beautifully by the sea.

Marianne decided to make a true arts shop in Kerteminde - and not just a regular gallery. She wanted a shop collective where local crafts artists could display and sell their art. She had a vision about everyone working in the shop would split the costs of the operation and help with minding the place. It just did not work out to share the costs. Or getting help with the minding. But they wanted to display…

Then, only one option was left if Marianne should live out her dream; she had to do it all by herself.

In the spring of 2012, Marianne was notified that one of Kerteminde’s most beautiful old houses was on the market. It had to be sold immediately due to death of the owner. Marianne came to the city, saw the house, and bought it right away.

Located beautifully by the harbor, across Thornøes Hotel, were the old timbered houses - a previous large merchant’s house. But it was some mouthful for Marianne to buy the place. To make the financials fit some of the buildings were sold, and Marianne started decorating the main building, facing Langegade and the harbor, as a shop with handicraft work, crafts art, and second-hand things.

She succeeded in getting some of the local crafts artists to buy stands in the shop, and gather artists, who would sell their work as commission sales. But economy was tough, and desperate times calls for desperate measures…

Marianne had at that point moved to Kerteminde herself and decorated an apartment in the old merchant’s house. One day, she interestingly read an article about the tourism in Kerteminde - and especially interesting for Marianne; that a lot more tourist could come to the city, if there were more accommodations to stay at.

Marianne rushed to an unused part of the house. She started planning, how the rooms could be used, to paint, and to decorate it as a Bed and Breakfast. 3 nice rooms with common kitchen and bathroom could be established… Marianne thought: “How nice with a little hotel”…

Like everything else in this world, the reality is far from the dream. Marianne soon realizes that servicing up to six guests daily is hard work, when you already have a large shop to take care of. But the joys are worth the work. Throughout the summer, Marianne has a lot of happy guests, who experiences the area of Kerteminde for the first time. Experiencing the city, the forests, the beaches, and all the attractions nearby.

For Marianne, the tidiness and decoration of the place is not enough - she also cares about the social life at accommodation. Marianne takes great pleasure in introducing guests to each other, telling lively about the city and the experiences, guests can have nearby. Marianne does her best in everything she does.