From a bird's-eye perspective, the Münsterland may appear as a walkable landscape painting. The loose succession of farmland, meadows, small woodlands, numerous natural water bodies, and hedgerow areas creates a harmonious overall picture. It is a cultural landscape with small-scale structures that have developed through centuries of agricultural use. Due to scattered settlements of farmsteads and individual homesteads, as well as occasional water castles, moated farms, and castles, which led a self-sufficient existence and relied on various agricultural areas for cultivation, the individual landscape elements repeat themselves. Magnificent hedgerows, distinctive solitary trees, and small farm woodlands structure the flat and open fields and meadows, giving the Münsterland its park-like character.

As a typical Westphalian water castle from the 16th century, Burg Hülshoff in Havixbeck is beautifully surrounded by moats and a magnificent park. It is the birthplace of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, one of the earliest and most important German-speaking poets of the 19th century.

Even in her youth, she created complex and linguistically powerful poetry and prose, which, however, only gained recognition in Germany and throughout Europe after her death. With a keen eye, she illuminated the political, social, and societal upheavals of her time, and her influence can still be felt in the contemporary literary scene.

Today, the castle houses the Droste Museum, the Center for Literature, and a restaurant. While the exhibition showcases individual rooms of the poet, as well as personal belongings, precious furniture, and the richly stocked library, the Center for Literature is dedicated to current research and the advancement of literature. It also engages in dialogue with contemporary arts and offers various thematic events.

In the elegant country house "Haus Rüschhaus" in Münster Nienberge, the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff spent the second half of her life. After the death of her father in 1826, she moved with her mother and sister to the former summer residence of Westphalian architect Johann Conrad Schlaun, which impressively combines rural, representative, and noble architectural features. A beautiful baroque garden extends around the moat island, and the former utility and ornamental garden at the back has been restored. Annette von Droste-Hülshoff resided on the mezzanine floor. Her living room also served as a workspace and was lovingly referred to by her as the "snail shell." It was here that she found artistic inspiration in nature and created a literary monument to her homeland of Westphalia with her work "Die Judenbuche" ("The Jew's Beech").

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They are strung together like pearls in the gentle park landscape of the Münsterland: imposing water castles, romantic castles, enchanting monasteries, and abbeys. Here, you experience history and stories as intensely as in hardly any other region. Welcome to the castles and fortresses region of Münsterland.

Believe it or not, over 100 castles, fortresses, manor houses, monasteries, estates, and noble residences await you here. This density of stately properties, the abundance of water castles, and the number of historical noble families who have cared for and preserved these estates since the Middle Ages make the area between Rheine in the north and Haltern in the south, Bocholt in the west, and Warendorf in the east a truly astonishing region of castles and fortresses. It is a region where you can discover and learn endlessly - and on particularly flat, pleasant routes.

The Münsterland as a natural habitat for flamingos, here in the North German Lowlands? It's hardly believable, but in the Zwillbrocker Venn, a small population settled in the 1980s. As a former raised bog with valuable wet meadows, moor and heathland, as well as large, shallow lakes, the Venn provides ideal living conditions for these graceful exotics, who typically prefer the sunny south in Europe. They are likely refugees from zoos or private collections, forming the northernmost breeding colony in the world today. In the nature reserve located in the German-Dutch border area, they coexist with over 140, some very rare, breeding and migratory bird species. From March to September, you can observe the flamingos in their natural habitat at Lachmöwensee before they migrate to their winter quarters in the Netherlands in autumn.