Johannes Höhn
Fresh air will have you work up an appetite. An open-air meal will taste even better if accompanied by a special backdrop, – in particular if you don’t have to prepare it on your own since the delicacies are provided by professionals. Enjoy delicious and airy treats at a deluxe picnic in the castle park, at the top of a pit frame, or on a pleasure hike from meal to meal through the Eifel region! Let us present some places and offerings in North Rhine-Westphalia to you that will provide particularly beautiful breaks in the open air. Enjoy your picnic with a view.
Bielefeld Marketing, Franziska Beckmann
Picnic with a view
Pleasure on a castle tower or a pit frame
A pleasurable break in the Ruhr area will take you to the very top with a view of former colliery sites after climbing the 160 steps to the “picnic on the pit frame” of shaft 3/7/10 in Essen. Anyone with a good head for heights will not only get a view of the Zollverein World Heritage Site from above but may also discover the Arena Auf Schalke on the horizon. The tower above the former Nordstern colliery in Gelsenkirchen can be easily reached by lift. An exhibition tells of the times of coal mining down in the listed building.
www.pickaview.de
The Teutoburg Forest also offers an opportunity for a climb, as visitors to Sparrenburg castle can enjoy an exclusive view of Bielefeld on weekends, when couples and groups of up to five persons can book the spire for their private use for one hour. The package goes by the name of “Picnic with a view – an epicurean hour on the castle tower”. It includes food and drinks as well as some panoramic views.
www.bielefeld.jetzt
Hiking and pleasure
If you want to burn off the extra calories gained by your feast again, the Eifel is the place to go. A number of day packages combine hikes on one of the “EifelSpur” themed routes with the pleasure of regional specialities. These may take the form of a hiking breakfast at the start of the tour or stops for sweet or savoury meals later in the day.
www.nordeifel-tourismus.de
Johannes Höhn
Delicious food in a beautiful scenery
Regional specialities
Burg Hülshoff castle in the Münsterland has long served as an oasis of relaxation: In the early 19th century, the noble Droste zu Hülshoff family used this well-preserved Renaissance complex, once a knight’s seat, as their retreat. The typical Westphalian moated castle with its sunbathing lawns in extensive parkland is a cosy place with a long tradition. The original Hülshoff picnic lets visitors enjoy the castle, its surroundings, and some delicacies from a pre-packed picnic basket. The blanket, glasses, cutlery, and plates are also included in the service, which is best booked no less than 24 hours before the planned excursion.
Together with Haus Rüschhaus, which is a little less than five kilometres away, the Burg Hülshoff castle is a worthwhile destination, in particular for literature enthusiasts: Once the homes of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, these two sites have since become venues of the Centre for Literature, connected by a new poetry path that also merges culture and nature. Interactive stations along the approximately ten-kilometre-long trail show how literature, nature, and culture have changed since Droste’s time.
Professionals will provide all sorts of picnic equipment in other beautiful locations in the Münsterland region as well: Romantik Parkhotel Wasserburg Anholt castle in Isselburg not only packs picnic baskets with delicacies from the castle kitchen, but can also send some advice on cycling routes to the best picnic spots in the area to a mobile phone. Haltern offers a number of picnic basket options under a climbing course or with a view of the reservoir. All bookable baskets are brimming with regional specialities.
ww.muensterland.com
Floral splendour and water fountains draw all eyes in Cologne’s Flora park – unless your filled picnic bag outperforms them. The Dank Augusta garden restaurant lets guests fill picnic bags to their liking at the bar before settling on the sun terrace with them. A tour of the historical park, opened in the late 19thcentury, will be an even greater pleasure after a good meal.
Picnic for lovers or Altbier fans
Monheim offers even more opportunities for picnic activities: The family farm café not only rents out all the equipment needed for an enjoyable outdoor feast, but also has pedal go-karts and bikes as well as a choice of playing equipment such as badminton, stilts, and swinging blankets available. Guests can choose one of five different picnic options in Neanderland: While the picnic basket for lovers contains, among other things, sparkling wine and orange juice along with boiled eggs and bread rolls, families will find milk or cocoa and sweet surprises for the children.
www.familienhofcafe.de/picknickkorb
Anyone who wants to enjoy a freshly tapped beer with their picnic will find the world’s oldest Altbier brewery the right place for them. The principle of the Privatbrauerei Bolten in Korschenbroich is quite simple: Guests bring their own treats from home as they wish and Bolten provides the chilled beer to go with them. This has a long tradition in this spot, as the brewery’s headquarters have not moved from this place since 1266.
