Today i’d like to introduce you to raesfeld, a small little paradise in germany and 30km east of the dutch border. It offers a restful contrast to the hustle and bustle of every day life. It has an incredible westphalian parkland and is the perfect spot for a sunday afternoon of fresh country air. There is the watercastle, wasserschloss raesfeld, (why not watch the cute video?), farmhouses, a lovely village with its shops and very quaint cafës and restaurants.
The weather was glorious and so it was the perfect day to take a stroll.
This is what you’re greeted with when you park your car.
He was standing alone, tall and proud. I was careful not to scare him but i recon, he loved having his picture taken. What do you think?
The ducks were happily swimming along.
Just turning the corner, you found yourself in this. The light was perfect and brought out all the greens. Now, this is what i call a parkland.
Every time you turned, you would see something else and the light would fall differently. Here was a little stream that led to……
this, that led to ………….
this! I think i could have stayed there for hours and hours just taking in the calmness, the colours and beauty of this place.
I couldn’t get over the way the sun fell and shone on all the beautiful trees. In fact i took so many photographs trying to capture it.
Wild or what? Resembles the tree of life!
Some blackberries amongst flowers.
Now, is this a broken pipe that hasn’t been fixed? Did they think: actually this looks like a good water feature? You decide!
After wandering around for a couple of hours and taking in the beauty and serenity of the place it was definitely time for some kaffee und kuchen. Of course, the choice was big, but as i’m always seduced by beauty and colour, the place below won hands down. Have you ever seen such vibrantly orange umbrellas? I could have nicked them all:)
It was a most precious afternoon. It always surprises me how relaxed i am when i go and see my friends in germany and how there doesn’t seem to be a care in the world! Now, how to integrate this into our day-to-day life? That’s the challenge.
I spent a wonderful few days and came back refreshed and with batteries recharged. Some of you animal lovers enjoyed me snapping pictures of the dog we looked after, so i will leave you today with another one taken here at raesfeld. I thought for a moment they were going to snog!!
Have a wonderful weekend. It’s sunny in london and we’re all so greatful for it. In the spirit of this post, as someone who appreciates the simple things in life, i really enjoyed igor’s recap of his time at home in serbia. Simple and wonderful!
18 Comments
BEAUTIFUL! Wow Tina! As usual, your images are stunning, but I love how you narrate the story and make us feel like we were right there with you, walking through the park, stopping for something sweet and just enjoying the day. This post makes me feel like I just took a mini break 🙂 Thanks! Also, I’ve never seen a black swan before!!!! I love his red beak.
Great post xoxoxo
Incredible place, no? Again, not that far from Frankfurt.
Oh, thank you darling, I’m so chuffed when anyone of you tells me you feel like you’re there with me. It’s such a huge compliment!!
The black swans were really cool. I swear, he loved having his picture taken. I bet that in the swan world he is a model. Vain or what???
xx
This place is amazing – and the weather looks nice too:)
Happy weekend my sweet friend,
Ax
Hope you’ll get to visit it one day. Thanks A xx
Your pics are stunning! I love LOVE the top image! Happy almost weekend xx
{p.s I love your idea of committing a couple of hours of a friday to ‘catching up’ on reading! If i reply to you via my comment section, do you recieve the message?}
Thanks Leah, bit like a postcard right?
I’ve been doing my reading and you???
No, I don’t get reply notifications.
xx
What a truly spectacular place! I love that it’s so wild and unspoiled. Also, I think it’s wonderful that we can’t tell whether the pipe is broken or a water feature. The point is: it just works in this setting! 😀
I’m sure I’ve said this before but I MUST tell you (again!) that your photography gets better with every post, not that it was remotely shabby to begin with! Some of these are so good that they wouldn’t look out of place on a Raesfeld brochure. No wonder that handsome fellow wandered over for his close-up! Your reputation had preceded you.
Stunning.
P.S. The music in that video is very Coldplay-esque, isn’t it? 😉
Have a sunny, fun weekend. x
Once again, I don’t believe my pictures do it justice. However, they do show how utterly magnificent this place is. I just couldn’t get over the greens and how wild and unspoilt it is. Seriously, I could have spent hours there just taking in that beauty and calmness. You can imagine, being in Germany, everything is ordered and clean:))
Ha. That water feature! Perfect isn’t it??
Oh, Chi, do you remember a few month ago when I commented on a post of yours saying that no one tells me I take good photographs?? You’ve been over generous ever since!! Thank you darling. I know you mean it though!! Ha. Brilliant comment re: swan!
Yes, also thought that music for the video was rather funky. It made viewing it more easy:)
Thanks Chi xx
Oh my dear! What a beautiful post and so spot on – just my kind of thinking!! Your photography is fairy tale like and I am always enchanted how people capture ‘their home’ when living abroad. It is truly special. And thank you big time for the mention!!! Have a fab weekend my friend!
A visit from Munich? Hmm, a bit far but would be worth it on a sunny day! Wasn’t I lucky with the weather??
I don’t think anyone has called my photography fairy-like. What a compliment Mr Happy!! Thank you:))
I so enjoyed your post on your time back home in Serbia. Marvellous!!
I have to say your images are stunning also. Love the second last one of the market umbrellas with the red geraniums in the middle background. Spending an afternoon at this enchanting park would be heaven especially sitting at that outdoor table with the flowers enjoying kaffee und kutchen! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and thank you for your encouraging comments about my photography and styling (good things are starting to happen for my blog!!!) I’m so lucky to have wonderful, supportive blogging friends like you. Catherine x
Oh, Catherine, you would have been in heaven, trust me! Taking a stroll, admiring the beauty of the place and then wondering over to this most charming little hotel with terrace to have ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ A really perfect afternoon. Of course, we had perfect weather to go with it!
My pleasure. I love your blog and am not surprised good things are happening to you. Huge congratulations again on your ‘gig’!! x
Thank you for your constant support!
Beautiful pictures, love the tranquility in the images – unlike the loud beating bass in the carnival today. Looks like a good spot to have peace and quiet to unwind from the rat race 🙂 x
Ha. Quite different to the Royal Free, right? Yes, different to the Notting Hill Carneval too. Maybe a little bit like Pei’s Teahouse?
Glad you enjoyed xx
So nice to come along with you today on this outing. Beautiful photos, Tina. The one photo of the swan is amazing! The angle and color of those umbrellas is another great one. I can definitely understand how you would come back with recharged batteries after visiting such an enchanting place.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Love that we all went on an outing together. Imagine we would all meet there in real life? Wouldn’t that be magical? There are lots of hotels there so we could stay a whole weekend. Well, we would need to as can you imagine the jabbing that would occur? Women talking, there’s never an end to it:))
The swan, he was something else. I have a photo where he turns and you see a patch of white feathers on his body. He was utterly beautiful and I haven’t seen many black swans in my life time!! Thanks lovely!
Sehr schön!
I love the tall trees and the canopy of light – and those umbrellas and geraniums are gorgeous! I feel as though I’ve really been there.
Now off to Serbia….. x
Oh, ich wusste nicht das du Deutsch spechen kannst!
What was so incredible is that wherever you turned, you saw another beautiful spot you could get lost in…. it was magical!
Those umbrellas, I swear, I wanted to nick them. That colour was incredible.
xx