The best walks and hikes around Nordsehl

Stadthagen is a planned settlement founded in 1225 as indago comitis adolphi (Hagen of Count Adolf). For this purpose, he had the forest cleared and a castle built. Stadthagen also received a city wall around 1400, parts of which still survive from this period. Today, Stadthagen still boasts a beautiful old town, where the planned construction is still clearly visible. The entire fortifications can also be explored in a beautiful park, allowing you to walk around the entire town.

Nice natural products store in Mittelbrink.

The size of this castle surprised me. Viewing only with a completed tax return and correct tax number 😉

Stadthagen Castle, belonging to the then-ruling counts and later princely house of Schaumburg-Lippe, was built between 1535 and 1539 by Count Adolf XI in Stadthagen on the site of a predecessor structure. This was a moated castle built in 1224 by Count Adolf III of Schaumburg in a clearing in the Dülwald forest. First documented in 1244, the castle must have been part of the town's founding from the very beginning, as its two streets were aligned with it. Extensive construction work is documented for the period around 1300. In 1304, a "house" is mentioned in the castle. In 1406, three castle guards are mentioned. The 15th-century gatehouse was later incorporated into the west wing of the castle. The new castle building, beginning in 1535, was planned and built by master builder Jörg Unkair, who came from Lustnau near Tübingen and had previously worked at the Cistercian monastery of Bebenhausen. He himself selected Obernkirchen sandstone from the Bückeberg near Obernkirchen. The residential palace was designed as a spacious, square, four-winged complex, with its northwest corner open to the town. The dormer windows and wing gables – Italian gables – resemble those of the Schelenburg near Osnabrück, which Unkair had previously built. However, since in Stadthagen, unlike at Schelenburg, he did not have to consider the medieval castle remains, the palace appears welcoming both internally and externally. It was built purely as a residential palace, without any military functions. After its completion in 1539, the Schaumburg state government moved in the following year; the tax and finance authorities also had their headquarters here. In 1608, the government and residence of the Schaumburg counts were relocated to Bückeburg. Later, the palace served as a widow's residence and the residence of the Crown Prince. A comprehensive restoration took place in 1875. After the First World War, the castle became the property of the newly founded Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe in 1919, and of the state of Lower Saxony since 1946. The castle is considered the oldest and most influential Weser Renaissance monument in Lower Saxony. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Stadthagen

What's exciting about this vantage point isn't necessarily the view itself, as the small town of Wiedensahl is only faintly visible, but rather its historical connection to a celebrity: Wilhelm Busch grew up in Wiedensahl and made many drawings from his surroundings. That's probably exactly where he stood when he wrote down his view of his birthplace on paper.

On October 15, 1946, Friedrich Hitzemann was shot on the road to Pollhagen. He was on his bike to Pollhagen around 7 p.m. and was probably murdered by former Polish or Russian prisoners of war. His bike and his body, shot in the stomach, were found on the street the next day. His valuables were still there, only his ID was missing. Unfortunately, there will be no further information about this incident on site.

Cycling through the Schaumburg Forest is excellent. The forest used to mark the border between the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and the Kingdom of Hanover. Today you can roll freely through the forest and enjoy the beautiful nature.

The Schaumburg Forest is always worth a tour