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Lovely places in Germany and the Netherlands around the Dutch border
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items I live in Germany at the Dutch border. The countryside is not spectacular, but there are beautiful, cozy little villages and some unique hidden treasures to find.
Sections
5
Culinary Experiences and remarkable hotels
Villages
Historic Buildings and Watercastles
Unique Experiences of Nature
Adventure
Culinary Experiences and remarkable hotels
There are some coffee shops and restaurants in this region around the Dutch border with traditional foods but also some fancier places that I highly recommend if you come for a visit.
My favourite place in our neighbour town Winterswijk! They have the fanciest coffee beverages I've seen so far in Germany. The typical cozy Dutch atmosphere, feels like a mini vacation!
Hesselink Koffie Thee
A restaurant in my little town that offers real food, made from scratch, a bit more high-end cuisine but still affordable, and the quality of the food as well as the atmosphere are so worth it! They also offer cooking classes which I think is awesome...
Trueffel Bohne
Diepenbrock Castle is a watercastle converted into a café and hotel. My husband and I spent our wedding night there many years ago. Back then, they had donkeys that very rudely woke us at five in the morning! Nowadays it's an elegant café and beautif...
Schloss Diepenbrock
An old watermill that houses a lovely restaurant where you can choose between 100 different pancakes and many other traditional Dutch dishes!
Uber die Wassermühle von Bels
Another old watermill turned into a café where you can have coffee and Dutch “gebak” (baked goods) or a typical Dutch lunch.
Berenschots Watermolen
Villages
One of my favourite little Dutch villages, the book town Bredevoort!
A warm welcome to the historic town Bredevoort! · Bredevoort: historisch vestingstadje in de Achterhoek
Historic Buildings and Watercastles
There are many hidden gems in our region that are so worth visiting!
This is one of the famous water castles of the Munsterland region. It's in cycling distance to my home town, and we love spending time there. It's part of the 100 castles route which is perfect for a cycling holiday.
Raesfeld Castle
Another water castle in our neighbourhood. It's one of the few castles in private property, namely the Fürst Salm-Salm. The castle has even been the setting for several movies!
Wasserburg Anholt.de index de
The origins of this castle date back the the 9th or 10th century. It's built on two small islands in the ditch system that was created to drain parts of the fen. It's also part of the 100 castle route.
Jugendburg Gemen
Unique Experiences of Nature
The landscape and wildlife park close to the village Anholt. It was created in the style of an English landscape garden that has been upgraded to a wildlife park. Some of Germany's original wildlife can be found here, like lynxes.
Wildpark NRW
Not far from Raesfeld Castle, there is the village Erle with the famous 1000 year old oak (in reality, it's only 600-800 years old), the so called Femeiche. It got it's name from the feme courts that were held beneath it until the 16th century. The a...
1.000-jährige Femeiche
A beautiful nature sanctuary at the Dutch border. It's the part that remains of an ancient raised bog that used to be much larger. There is a 6 km trail to explore the animals and plants of the area, amongst other things even a small flamingo island.
Zwillbrocker Venn: Biologische Station Zwillbrock
One of the most significant moorland areas of the Westmunsterland region. It's the remnant of a 4000 year old bog area, nowadays a nature sanctuary with fantastic walking trails.
Burlo-Vardingholter Venn und Entenschlatt
One of the few swamp forests in the Netherlands, an incredibly peaceful and quiet place where you can fully enjoy nature.
Bekendelle nature reserve in Winterswijk
A lovely landscape garden in the Netherlands close to the German border. It was modelled on English landscape gardens. They also have a Celtic Coffee Shop and a British shop where you can have specialty coffees, English scones or Dutch apple cake, an...
Rosenhaege NL DE
Adventure
If you like some controlled adventure in nature, this is for you. Besides the tree climbing parcours, there are also fun group events like archery or guided walks to learn about herbs.
Kletterwald Borken