Discover Staufenberg: Nature, Trails and Culture

Get to know Staufenberg as you plan your trip, exploring nature, outdoor activities and places with a village and educational history. Hühnerfeld and the barefoot path in Nienhagen offer different perspectives on nature, while the Gollong House and the medieval village of Steinrode provide other points of interest. This lets you choose the destination according to the interests you want to shape your stay.

Nature and landscape

Hühnerfeld is a 51-hectare raised bog on a plateau in the Kaufunger Wald and part of the 332-hectare Bachtäler im Kaufunger Wald nature reserve. In the wet areas, you can find peat mosses, round-leaved sundew, marsh rosemary and hare’s-tail cottongrass. These plants give the bog its distinctive character within the landscape.

Staufenberg is part of Münden Nature Park. The landscape associated with Staufenberg includes the Kaufunger Wald and Bramwald, as well as forests, meadows, farmland, mixed beech forests, streams and meadow valleys. This means bog areas and wetland plant habitats sit alongside other forest and meadow landscapes.

Trails and outdoor activities

Hiking trails in Staufenberg lead through the Hühnerfeld nature reserve; some trails also pass Haferberg. At 580 metres, the mountain is considered the second-highest in Lower Saxony. Check current trail conditions in advance when planning a specific hike. This lets you consider the bog landscape and Haferberg as distinct nature experiences without treating their routes as the same.

The Nienhagen barefoot path is in the municipality of Staufenberg, is 2.5 kilometres long and offers an all-senses nature experience. Its surfaces include sand, wood, stone paving, mud, spruce cones, moss, gravel and water. The route lets you experience a range of different materials; surfaces and conditions on site may vary.

Staufenberg has two water-treading facilities. There are also shelters, barbecue areas and children’s playgrounds where hikers and cyclists can stop for a picnic. If you plan to use one of these facilities, check its current condition in advance.

Village culture and special places

The Gollong House in Nienhagen is a village museum in a small half-timbered house opposite the village church. It offers insights into traditional village crafts. The house is associated with actor Georg Christian Gollong and ballet dancer Erika Gollong; both spent the second half of their lives there. The museum, the building’s architecture and these personal stories give the place several cultural connections.

The medieval village of Steinrode is an educational facility on the grounds of the Haus Steinberg Forest Education Centre. The educational facility and the village museum in Nienhagen therefore represent different cultural themes. There is an open-air stage at the Sichelnstein castle ruins, where concerts are held during the summer months. Check the dates in advance if you plan to attend a concert.

Gut Wissmannshof, with its championship golf course, lies between Lutterberg and Speele. If golf is a key part of your plans, check the latest course information in advance.

Göttingen in the wider travel area

In Göttingen, visitors can learn about ongoing research and teaching at Forum Wissen. The permanent exhibition “Spaces of Knowledge” covers 1,400 square metres and shows how knowledge is created. Its twelve rooms contain more than 1,400 objects from the collections of the University of Göttingen. Göttingen’s Old Botanical Garden also offers a historical connection: it was founded in 1736 as a “hortus medicus”, or medicinal garden.

Discover more destinations: Landwehrhagen, Friedland, Bovenden, Scheden, Walkenried, Rosdorf, Nienhagen, Gieboldehausen.

Back to the overview of the wider travel area: Göttingen.