Wake up with a view over fields and meadows. For breakfast there's fresh milk and a breakfast egg directly from the chicken coop. The days fly by with excursions into nature, petting horses and feeding cows. In the evening stick bread is roasted at the campfire. A vacation on a Lower Saxony farm is unforgettable, and not just for children.
Here and there you can still hear a loud moo, but otherwise only satisfied sounding smacking: It's feeding time, and there are fresh greens in the long stainless steel troughs in the cowshed. The cattle eat plenty of it every day. Fresh fodder is added again and again with the pitchfork. There is a lot to do on a farm, every day. When you spend your vacation on a farm in Lower Saxony, you're right in the middle of the action - and if you like, you can lend a hand.
In the Lüneburg Heath and in the Wendland, in the Weserbergland or on the North Sea coast: You can vacation on a farm all over Lower Saxony: In vacation apartments or houses, with the camper or in the tent. Some farms also offer overnight stays in the hay. No two farms are alike - some are purely agricultural, keeping dairy cows or growing vegetables, for example, while others keep chickens or goats and only do farming as a sideline. In addition, there are equestrian farms. You can usually spend your vacation there with your own horse - the horse gets its own stall, and the riding trails start right outside the door. Also for hikers and cyclists the excursions into nature start directly at the farm. Something rare and precious is available for free during a farm vacation: wonderful peace and quiet. In the countryside, the clocks still tick a little slower; for all the hustle and bustle that prevails on a farm, the hectic pace of the city is quite far away. And so you quickly find distance from the stressful everyday life - but a vacation on the farm is not boring so quickly.
This is how you get to the Lüneburg Heath by train: Plan arrival.
Especially for children, vacations on a farm are a little adventure, because on a farm there's a lot to discover - barns and stables, meadows and pastures. And of course cows and horses, chickens and goats, tractors and combine harvesters. The little ones experience a lot every day, can romp, climb and play hide and seek. Along the way, they learn how a farm works. Asking questions is expressly encouraged here: What is a mother cow, how long does a chicken hatch an egg? Not only, but especially for city children, a vacation on the farm brings many aha experiences. They also get a different relationship to products that they previously only knew from the supermarket. Many farms have set themselves up especially for families with children - there are also playgrounds, a campfire can be lit in the evening and stick bread can be roasted over it. It's all the little things that make farm vacations such a great experience. In addition to meeting the animals, a ride on a tractor is also part of the experience: Sitting high up in the tractor and swinging over a field is simply fun.
Not infrequently, the farms are hundreds of years old, were already farmed by the great-great-grandparents. It is something special to be able to be on one of the historic farms, which often still look as beautiful today as they did back then: thatched half-timbered houses and wooden barns, with humped cobblestones in between and mighty oak trees all around. On some farms there are small farm stores, sometimes even cafés. There you can buy products from own cultivation, but also homemade jams or cakes, other products come from the neighboring farm and from the region. A vacation in the countryside is also always a small cultural journey - after all, the country and its people are a little different everywhere. The fact that northern Germans, who are said to be rather taciturn, are actually quite sociable is something you notice very quickly. Not to be forgotten, however, are the culinary discoveries. Lower Saxony has more on the menu than kale or shrimp - although these are not to be sneezed at! There's also plenty of asparagus and strawberries in Lower Saxony, as well as regional specialties such as Heidschnuckenbraten or East Frisian tea.
Whether you want to spend a relaxing vacation as a couple with lots of nature or as a young family adventurous vacations - on a farm in Lower Saxony this works perfectly.
Cover photo: A farm vacation is an adventure for children - and very relaxing for parents ©fotolia/Boggy