Hosts who are happy to show you their home. Producers who make regional food with care and love - which you can taste on the spot. And an environment full of meadows and forests, which gives children the opportunity to play carefree outside. And adults to finally take a deep breath. Village vacations in the Black Forest feel something like summer vacations used to. For example in Lossburg.

Piece by piece, little Benedikt takes the raw eggs out of the mobile chicken coop and very carefully hands them over to Carla Staiger, who runs the large old farm in the Black Forest village of Lossburg-Schömberg together with a few like-minded people. Benedikt is on summer vacation in Lossburg with his parents and little sister Lina. The two children are happily running around among the chickens on the sunny meadow. Before that, they have been feeding hay to the Schwäbisch- Hällische Landschweine - specimens of an old breed of farm animal. They drove a kettcar in the yard. And went shopping with their parents in the farm store. Too bad it's not Friday. At least at normal times, the farm café would also be open, serving coffee and homemade cakes.

21 very special Black Forest villages

Lossburg has joined forces with 20 other communities in the region to form the "Black Forest Village Holiday". The concept: The hosts welcome vacationers like friends and show them what makes their own homeland special. This includes friendly overnight accommodations, small manufactories and producers, in short, villages where the world is still in order. Who would like, can for example also a picnic with regional specialities with its village vacation host before-order. Or buy a "Vesperdäschle" with products at the Lossburg Information. 

By train comfortably and without traffic jams to Lossburg: Plan arrival.

Water fun in the magic land at the Kinzigsee

Benedikt and Lina are clearly enjoying their carefree vacation in the Black Forest - and so are their parents. During the water adventure round in Zauberland at Lake Kinzig, they are laughing and fighting at the station with the big water spray guns, while the little ones jump away shrieking. Clearly too wet ... The nature discovery trail around the water was built at the Kinzigursprung and offers a water playground as well as several hands-on stations - and simply a stream in which to play.

Panoramic view from the Vogtei Tower

Change of scene. This time, the adults have determined the program - a climb up the Vogtei Tower. It's made of steel, so you can see all the way down through the steps. But even more beautiful are the panoramic views that you can enjoy from the top over the landscape and the ridges of the Black Forest. The parents are now pushing a bit to hurry, they still want to buy organic cheese for dinner at Conni's cheese factory on the Schwenkenhof. "You can watch the cows grazing there," the parents explain to the little ones. "And maybe there are even little calves." The argument works wonders. Benedikt and Lina nimbly climb back down the Vogtei tower. Off to the Schwenkenhof!

Cheese with spruce needles

There is some hustle and bustle there right now, a mother cow is actually calving and she needs help. But Cornelia Reich still takes time for the family. And while the two children are peacefully laying puzzles on the floor (there is an extra basket of children's toys for little visitors), the parents are sampling the specialties in Conny's cheese factory. Reich explains that she likes to experiment, refining cheese with herbs and other regional ingredients. She hands them a spicy cheese with a slight hint of spruce over the counter - fitting for the Black Forest. Young needle tips provide a spicy, tangy aroma. Benedikt and Lina have finished the puzzle and visit the small self-service refrigerator with milk and yogurt outside with their dad while their mother is still paying. 

"And what are we going to do tomorrow?" Lina wants to know in the evening, when her eyes almost fall shut in the bed with the checkered bedding. "Surprise," her mother answers and gives the little girl a kiss on the cheek.

Walking with goats

Well, that's really a bit unexpected the next morning: "Come on, Frida, come and bring the others with you," says Esther Föttinger from the Kultierhof to her kids, and after a short hesitation they run after Frida and Esther. A little inspection of the place with a wild gang of goats. Esther Föttinger tells us that the family bought the farm a few years ago. "Goats are such emphatic animals," she says, "I'm not quite sure why, but I've actually always wanted some." Here in Betzweiler-Wälde near Lossburg, the goats are not slaughtered, not even milked. Going for a hike with visitors every now and then is their only job. Benedikt walks around grinning among the goats - he can't believe it: walking with goats! Amazingly, the animal troop somehow stays together, walks with the guests through the alleys for a rather brisk quarter of an hour - and then back to the stable. No one escapes. But Esther Föttinnger always finds such excursions a bit exciting.

Mill world at the Heimbach

There are special people in Lossburg who ensure that old traditions are allowed to live on. In the mill world on the Heimbach, for example. Karl-Heinz Mäder, whose family used to own mills here, shows the family how such an old saw gets going. His small, friendly Mühlenwelt am Heimbach wants to keep the craft of sawmilling alive. In his restaurant "Obere Mühle" regional, simple and very tasty specialties are served. And there is also a small hiking trail. Karl-Heinz Mäder turns the knobs of the saw, tries, curses, tries again and in the end laughs. The old monster starts moving, groaning and creaking and making a deafening noise. The saw blades rattle, the colossal spruce trunk is split into beams. In the past, people used to go to the pub while the saws were in operation, says Karl-Heinz Mäder - because the procedure could take quite a while. "But I prefer to stick with it, the Viertele is later at my restaurant."

The goats from the Kultierhof go for a walk in the village © Oliver Raatz

In collaboration with Tourism Marketing Baden-Württemberg

More articles from Baden-Württemberg