Madfeld: Trails, Nature and Local History

Madfeld combines trails through forests and protected areas with tangible evidence of local history. This gives you several options when planning your trip: a circular hike, a regional cycling tour, distinctive landscapes and historical landmarks. You can decide whether to focus your time more on outdoor activities, nature or local history.

Hiking and Landscapes

The Hemmeker Bruch nature reserve lies north of Madfeld. It is a damp hollow in Madfeld slate terrain, used as grassland. Together, its hollow shape, moisture, grassland use and geological subsoil give it a distinctive landscape character.

The Brilon-Madfeld Circular Hiking Trail (M3) is 9.83 km long and passes through the forests near Madfeld via Kelleker Holz, Liebfrauenberg and Brautlicht. Its circular route and precise distance provide a useful guide to the length of the hike. Your own pace and planned breaks will also affect how you divide up your time.

The Brilon-Madfeld Circular Hiking Trail (M2) passes through the Eschker Holz nature reserve. The difference between the two trails can be summed up briefly: M3 can be identified by its length and several named landmarks, while M2 has its own connection to a protected area through its route through Eschker Holz.

You can reach M3 via the Kelleker Holz hiking car park or by taking bus 483 to the Tiefer Weg stop. If you plan to travel by bus, check the timetable before setting out.

Local History and Buildings

The Jewish cemetery in Madfeld was established around the middle of the 18th century. It contains 39 gravestones and is the largest Jewish cemetery in the former district of Brilon. It is a prominent landmark for anyone interested in Jewish history and Madfeld’s historical heritage.

The old forestry barn in Madfeld was built around 1850. Pottricks Kreuz is a historicist wayside cross on Bleiwäscher Straße between Madfeld and Bleiwäsche. The Millenium-Tor was built in 2011 to mark Madfeld’s thousandth anniversary. Local history can thus be encountered in different forms: as a cemetery, historic barn, wayside cross and anniversary monument.

The village signs in Madfeld point to the town’s historical past. They were created in collaboration with the Briloner Heimatbund – Semper Idem and funded as part of a LEADER project. These references to local history complement the town’s architectural and historical landmarks.

Places to Pause

There are three groups of benches in the Madfeld community forest, from which you can watch sunsets depending on the time of year. If you would like to plan for this moment in nature, take the season into account. At the Millenium-Tor, picnic benches invite hikers to stop and rest.

Another local detail is the oak bridge over the Aabach: it is 5 m long and 1.3 m wide. These measurements give the structure a tangible scale alongside the longer hiking and cycling routes.

Cycling Tour and Planned Meeting Place

Regional cycling tour 4 runs from Brilon via Obermarsberg and Madfeld and back to Brilon. Unlike M3, which is a circular hiking trail, tour 4 is a regional cycling route; the sequence of places named shows that it extends beyond a single locality. When planning your trip, you can therefore choose between hiking a route with a specified distance and cycling through several towns.

The Brüggepark multigenerational park in Madfeld is intended as a playground and meeting place for public events.

Discover more destinations: Gudenhagen, Radlinghausen, Brilon-Wald, Hoppecke, Bontkirchen, Alme, Nehden

Return to the main travel overview: Brilon.