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The house by the river

A wooden house of 1898 by the river Neris, four weavers, six looms and a garden of dye plants.

  • Built by a family of flax growers
  • A dye garden of eleven plants
  • Two kilometres from the Kernavė mounds
The wooden house by the frozen river on a winter evening, its windows lit

How it began

Agnė Vaitkutė learned to weave from her grandmother in Zarasai and spent twenty years as a teacher in Vilnius, weaving at weekends.

In 2009 she bought an empty farmhouse by the Neris, mended the broken loom she found in its barn and wove her first tablecloth in the old living room.

How we work now

Four weavers work here all year. Two weave linen, one weaves sashes and one embroiders, and all four teach.

We keep the patterns of this valley in a book, and add to it whenever a visitor brings an old sash or towel from home.

The house so far

1898

The house is built

A family of flax growers builds the farmhouse and a barn for drying flax.

2009

The first loom

Agnė buys the empty house and mends the loom she finds in the barn.

2012

The first fair

Twelve makers set up stalls in the meadow on Midsummer Day.

2021

The dye garden

Madder, weld and woad are planted behind the barn.

6Looms in the house
900+Students since 2009
14Midsummer fairs
11Plants in the dye garden

The weavers

Agnė Vaitkutė

Agnė Vaitkutė

Weaver and founder

Weaves tablecloths and teaches the weekend classes.

Jonas Mickus

Jonas Mickus

Sash weaver

Knows more than two hundred sash patterns by heart.

Rūta Šilėnienė

Rūta Šilėnienė

Embroiderer

Stitches christening cloths and runs the dye garden.

Emilija Žukauskaitė

Emilija Žukauskaitė

Linen weaver

Weaves the towels and looks after the shop.

Visit the house

Open Thursday to Sunday from May to October. The kettle is always on.