Paffendorf Castle & Türnich CastleCastle (hi)story with a future

Forest and moats, natural diversity and sustainability: these two gems, surrounded by ancient trees in the Rhine-Erft district, are linked by an eventful history that tells of defiance against open-cast mining and is full of hope for the future. Türnich Castle in Kerpen and Paffendorf Castle in Bergheim have retained their romantic charm in their historically evolved parks and combine this with ecological values and aspirations.

Visitors can meet the owner of Türnich Castle himself either in the courtyard café or while farming in the castle gardens. Just over a decade ago, Count Severin von Hoensbroech took over his ancestors' listed castle, which had been partially destroyed by the earth movements of the nearby open-cast mine, in order to secure and renovate it and transform it into a place for the future. Natural, sustainable and close to the people. Among other things, he had the 15-hectare, publicly accessible forest park around the baroque moated castle restored according to historical plans and ecological findings. Fruit, vegetables and arable crops grow in the fields between the kilometre-long curved hedges. You can even try and buy them in the café and farm shop in the castle courtyard.

In contrast, the nearby Paffendorf Castle is now owned by the energy company RWE. It took over the manor house, which is flanked by two massive round towers and surrounded by a moat, together with the outer bailey at the end of the 1950s, when the company's ongoing opencast lignite mining reached the land belonging to the castle. Today, when RWE produces much more electricity from renewable energies than from lignite, the steadfast castle also symbolises the end of the fossil age and the transition to the future of electricity. Speaking of fossil fuels: two 15-million-year-old Sequoia stumps were found in the excavated castle grounds. Today, they mark the entrance to the castle park, where ancient sequoia trees, gingkos and giant arborvitae as well as descendants of prehistoric trees, shrubs and bog plants from different parts of the world grow.

Even if Türnich Castle and Paffendorf Castle are somewhat hidden behind tall trees, you don't have to look far for moated castles and palaces in the "Rhenish Bay". The proximity to the river has always been favoured by the high nobility, making the Rhine-Erft district the region with the most moated castles in the whole of Germany today. The Erft cycle path and the specially created moated castle route lead past them. A trip to the beautiful parklands is also a great way to take a breather from a city trip to Cologne, Bonn or Aachen. All three metropolises are right outside the castle gates, so to speak.