Beds Made Of Hay Are Latest Hotel Craze

cnn.com:

In Germany and its European neighbors Austria and Switzerland, a long weekend in a converted barn - sleeping on a bed of freshly raked hay -- is fast becoming the 'staycation' of choice.

Heuhotels ('heu' is German for hay) offer exactly what their name suggests. For as little as eight euros ($11) a night backpackers, couples, families and, in the case of one "hay hotel" in central Germany - 'groups of up to 60' - can rest their heads in a way nature intended.

Read the whole story: cnn.com

Comments

[babyboomerorig]

We used to sleep on straw at the county fair with our cattle....­they were in one area, we in another. That is the warmest way to sleep...ac­tually hot.

Our ancestors used to have straw mattresses that they used to sleep on to stay warm, especially in the winter. It was free, easily accessible and all you had to do was stuff it into some cotton. They did the same thing with chicken feathers to use as comforters. I had a feather comforter as a kid and was always warm as toast even though my bedroom could get down to zero at night.

Farm life of 60 years ago.

[susankhbelen]

sleeping on hay is uncomfortable as well as buggy.
ick
a really baaad childhood farm memory!
On the other hand diving into a truck of newly picked soy beans is a hoot!

[liberalbug]

Hay really isn't just for horses anymore. I'd sleep on hay anywhere in Europe for this price. Right on!

[AllShookUp]

First, an airline that wants to replace seats with stools and only a strap to hang onto in case of turbulance, and now this. We are becoming the very essence of sheeple, aren't we?

[bdaved]

My father and some of his fellow prisoners left Arbeitskommando USA #1 at Trattendorf through an unlocked door one night in the exceptionally cold month of February, 1945, and spent nine days and nights trying, unsuccessfully, to reach the Russian front. They did their barn-sleeping during the daytime; once they had that seemingly very common escapee experience of being discovered by non-German farm workers, and being silently covered back up in the hay. Someday I want to see some of the places he spent his wartime in, from Tunisia to Germany, but I don't think I'm going to have to sleep in a barn to appreciate his experiences.

[Shacked]

everyone loves a good roll in the hay.

[jemiltd]

The last time I slept on hay was an overnighter with my Girl Scout troops on a farm. One of the girls got a tick that I had to help remove. Did not get any sleep after that.

[nobillary1]

Wouldn't hay be a magnet for other creepy crawlies too? Like bedbugs, fleas and mites? Eeeeooowwww! Thanks but no thanks!

[babyboomerorig]

This is why straw is better than hay.

[SuperSizeMe111]

This has gone to far. ENOUGH! Im going to get some aerosol can's be back later.

[MagicalPossibilities]

That would NOT be good for my allergies.

[Bubbas]

Yep that would drive mine crazy too....

[veritas2u]

What do you think mattresses used to be stuffed with 200 years ago?

[bdaved]

A hundred years ago my grandmother's folks were stuffing them with cornshucks.

[IDIOTA]

All of a sudden I feel itchy and scratchy.

[Durango]

Someone enlighten me. We were just talking about this today.

Wouldn't they be beds of straw?

Out here hay is mostly alfalfa. What is hay in Germany?

[ecotopian]

If the picture is any indication, they are sleeping on hay. Hay is green and soft, while straw is coarse. I would rather sleep on hay. My question is, what do they do with the hay? Compost it?

Actually, hay is mostly grass, at least here in Oregon. There is hay and there is alfalfa. They aren't the same thing.

[Durango]

Out here the hay is not green and moist. It would spontaneously combust when you bail it. (which does happen anyhow). And it is almost exclusively alfalfa.

[Tperl]

What is the German phrase for Fire Trap?

[graffitijoe]

Craze - good choice of word.

[ReealOne]

Wow. I won't sleep like a barnyard animal for NO amount of money. Folks can be so gullible. Tell them "this is the latest phase", and they'll come arunning..­. and believe you.

These "hotel" owners (a/k/a farmers) must be laughing all the way to the bank, and can't believe how gullible folks can be. What next? Tell them that working the farm, slopping the hogs and pigs 'n things, while sleeping on a hay bed (a/k/a a "manger") and paying the farmers to do it, is the lastet phase of a "real" sleep experience.

Yep, these farmers.. er.... "hotel owners" are laughing all the way to the bank.