Many also call the Uckermark, located in northeast Germany, the “Tuscany of the North”, because the region is characterized by a picturesque landscape with rolling hills, forests, meadows, fields, lakes and small, idyllic villages. Up until the 18th century, the two also had viticulture in common. The 110 meter high vineyard at Landhaus Fredenwalde does not bear his name for nothing, because wine was already grown here in the Middle Ages, until the last vines were destroyed by frost in 1739.

Since then, the vineyard has not only been known as a landmark, but also as the oldest burial ground in Germany: In 1962, a burial site with skeletal remains of six people dating from around 6000 BC was found on the hilltop. Chr. Dates. While we're digging in the vineyard - do you know the legend of its gold treasure? Nobody should have dared to lift it, because it should have belonged to the devil personally. But a poor peasant had promised him his soul in exchange for the gold, with the condition that he would remain free if he could raise the gold between the first and second crowing of the cock. The devil agreed because he hadn't even shown the farmer the location of the treasure. The farmer dug with his people - the long and deep holes can still be seen today - and found what they were looking for. His wife prevented the rooster from screaming for a second time with a ribbon, so the treasure could be lifted and the devil, who was angry, could be tricked. If you listen carefully up in the vineyard, you can still hear him raging today ...

A little over an hour's drive from Berlin, the Landhaus Fredenwalde is located in the south of the Uckermark district, surrounded by meadows, forests, hills and lakes on the slope of a vineyard. The building was probably constructed in the middle of the 19th century, and some of the wooden beams are even older. The interior masonry is made of clay bricks, so a lot of clay was also used in the ecological renovation. In 2010 we converted the house into a high quality holiday home. Among other things, some interior walls were removed and the south facade was opened with large windows, creating spacious, bright rooms. The gas-powered wall heating - because of it, no nails are allowed in the walls - ensures pleasant warmth in every room even in winter. Since the house is a non-smoking house, at most the smokers have to get out into the fresh air for one cigarette length each time.

The total living space is approx. 220 square meters. The house offers 5 bedrooms with space for 10 people. The sleeping places in the house include a total of 2 double beds, 6 single beds, in the music room there is also a sofa bed for 2 people, and you will also find 2 baby or children's beds here.

On the ground floor there is the large eat-in kitchen with a fireplace and a large kitchen table, where you can not only eat together, but also play. In the living room you can make yourself comfortable in front of a fire in the fireplace on cold evenings. On the same floor there is also a bathroom with a shower, a guest room with a double bed and - very important! - the music room with the Steinway grand piano and the already mentioned pull-out sofa.

Upstairs you will find the 4 guest rooms - 1 with a double bed, the other 3 with two single beds each - and a shared bathroom with a bathtub.

The garden has an area of 9,400 square meters, in the provided garden furniture you can enjoy it - even when grilling if necessary.

The house is also equipped with 4 high chairs, a washing machine and a sauna with a wood-burning stove. So everything is given to relax.

The country house has a modern, spacious kitchen-cum-living room where you can spend time together in a group. The equipment to swing the wooden spoon yourself is as follows: crockery for 14 people, baking and cooking utensils, espresso pot (for 6 cups), French press coffee pot, but also a coffee machine, toaster, convection oven, refrigerator with a small freezer compartment and dishwasher.

You can get fresh products from the region from several sources in the area for self-sufficiency. I can recommend the mobile country bakery Hakenbeck from Friedrichswalde, which stops on Thursdays between 2.30 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the center of Groß Fredenwalde. Game and poultry from their own husbandry are available at Harry Brockhaus' farm in neighboring Klein Fredenwalde. Fresh fish, smoked or pickled fish, on the other hand, in the farm shop of Uckermark Fisch GmbH directly on the Great Lychensee. You can even have organic products delivered directly to your home with the Brodowiner organic delivery service (minimum order value 20 euros, delivery 8.50 euros). The Ecovillage Brodowin offers in its (only German-speaking) web shop, among other things, fruit and vegetable boxes, meat and dairy products, drinks and smoothies, baked goods and pasta, rice, but also ready-made, complete meals.

And I would like to take this opportunity to recommend another local specialty: the award-winning Uckermark picnic basket. Filled with - depending on your choice - sweet or salty Uuckmarket products, it is brought to Groß Fredenwalde at times and meeting points agreed in advance, where you can enjoy the delicacies comfortably and in peace before, during or after a walk. Depending on your choice, the sweet basket contains, among other things, Lychener Orient coffee or Prenzlauer LAGA tea, Uckermärker apple juice, Uckermärker gray bread or monastery wholemeal bread, apple jelly or chocolate spread, Angermünder boulders, seasonal fruit from Groß Fredenwalde, natural or fruit yoghurt or ice cream from Wolters. The salty basket consists of, among other things, Lychener Orient coffee or Prenzlauer LAGA tea, Uckermark apple juice, Uckermark brown bread or monastery wholemeal bread, ostrich salami and liver sausage made from Berken latten or wild liver sausage and venison salami from Klein Fredenwalde, seasonal vegetables or fruit. In addition to the sweet and salty variants, there are also seasonal picnic offers, with all variants including picnic blankets and dishes. The Uckermark picnic basket is available for 2 to 30 people. You can book it conveniently online at www.picknicken.eu or by phone at +49 39887 697730 at least 2 working days before the scheduled appointment.

If you want to eat out, I can recommend several places in the area, some of which offer real regional specialties. The restaurant at Herberge Groß Fredenwalde offers a 4-course menu on weekends made from fresh, regional and seasonal ingredients and on the fixed regional menu, among other things, bratwurst, fish, fried eggs or wild herb salad. The Kastanienhof Uckermark has a restaurant and beer garden, where you can get asparagus soup or fried asparagus, pork steak, venison, sliced turkey with leek and pineapple. In the Gasthof zumgrün Baum there are, among other things, tarte flambée rolls, lasagna with regional organic minced meat or asparagus curry with cabbage and tagliatelle. The restaurant of the Hotel Alte Schule in Fürstenhagen is not only a Michelin star, but also an advocate of cooking from fresh ingredients, which is why it does not have a menu. In addition to local fruit and vegetables, fish, game and poultry from the region are then prepared and served when it is freshly delivered, accompanied by wines from all over the world. And the Weinschänke of Gutshof Kraatz - confessing supporters of Slow Food Germany - awaits you with home-made apple wines and juices, but also with its seasonal cuisine made from fresh local ingredients, from venison sausages to home-made pizza and pierogies to apple strudel.

When you've jammed enough on the Steinway grand piano, sweated enough in the sauna or enjoyed the view of the idyllic surroundings, you can also explore them actively. Literally the closest is the vineyard at the country house, if you climb its approx. 110 meters you have a beautiful view of the local meadows, forests and lakes. Several hiking trails start right outside the front door and lead you into a hilly and varied landscape. This also includes lakes, in each direction you will find several, so that you can swim somewhere different every day, e.g. in the nearby Sabinen, Mühlen and Behrend lakes or the larger Oberrucker, Grimnitz and Kuhzer lakes. On some of them, e.g. the Unter- and Oberruckersee, a ship of the passenger shipping company Uckerseen operates. You can watch the plant and animal species living here comfortably from the ship, while the ship is transferring from one lake to the other by river connection.

The 1291 square kilometer Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve is located less than 10 kilometers south of the country house, just after the Poratzer moraine landscape. Part of the reserve, the Grumsiner Forest, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2011. The reserve is a water-rich cultural landscape, and the watershed between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea runs right through it. Some areas consist of several hundred oaks, all of which are more than 250 years old. In addition to red deer, wild boar and roe deer, you can also encounter beavers, otters, the endangered European pond turtle and the fire-bellied toad. Different species of eagles breed here, and the crane also likes to rest and rest in the reserve.
And the eastern tip of the largest terrestrial national park in Germany, the Müritz National Park, is only about 30 kilometers to the northwest. The park, which covers a total of 322 square kilometers, is 72 percent covered by forests and 13 percent by lakes, eight percent are moors, five percent meadows and two percent arable land. The number of plant and animal species that occur here is correspondingly high, only a few data are mentioned as teasers: so far 54 mammals, 214 birds, 859 beetles, 673 large butterflies, 61 spiders, 16 reptiles have been found - and amphibians as well as 26 fish species observed; Furthermore, 910 vascular plants, 133 moss, 593 mushroom and 152 lichen species were counted.

You can rent bicycles from Celine Aktiv Reisen in Flieth-Stegelitz - here you can even go on donkey hikes and covered wagon vacations; in addition to German and English, Polish is spoken. At OTTOmobil's Fahrrad- & amp; Canoe rental in Pfingstberg - as the name suggests - you can rent canoes as well as bikes, which can be very fun in the lakeside area.

In Groß Fredenwalde, while you are getting to know the area, you can also do geocaching, the "GPS paper chase" with the help of a mobile device. June 2015 the local multicache was completely renewed under the name: "Stone Age, Slavs, Gutsdorf: Groß-Fredenwalde" in Groß Fredenwalde. With this exciting cache you can learn a lot about Groß Fredenwalde, but puzzling and guessing is not neglected either. The start is at N 53 ° 07.762 ′ E 013 ° 47.620 ′, you can find the Groß Fredenwalde Multicache at Geocaching.com and Opencaching.de.

Aside from nature, you can also recharge your batteries in the area, for example at the Melzow summer concerts. These were founded in 2002 by the association "Friends of the Melzower Church" e.V. to save the 17th century village church in Melzow. In addition to classical and organ music, there is also vocal music or jazz. Admission to the benefit concerts with German and international artists is free, but a donation is requested. In exchange, you are cordially invited to a glass of wine or beer after the concerts and you can visit an exhibition by the Thuringian artist Christoph Schwabe in the church before or after the concerts.
As part of the Uckermark Music Weeks, there have been over twenty first-class concerts in the district every summer since 1992. What is special about this is that the concert venues also include atmospherically attractive granaries, stables, barns, churches and manor houses of cultural and historical significance, as well as open-air events in gardens and castle ruins. It is a festival of early music with excursions to musical cultures from distant countries, from the Middle Ages to the present day.
The Annenwalde glassworks is a large studio building with a gallery and sculpture garden. Between Tuesday and Saturday, visitors get an insight into melting technology and can also get creative themselves in courses. Families with children are also welcome, admission is free. In the gallery there is a sales exhibition with handmade glass works of art and artfully designed utility glass. Handmade glass works of art and artfully designed utility glass can also be purchased in the gallery.
Boitzenburg Castle in neo-Renaissance style is one of the largest castles in Brandenburg and was first mentioned in a document in the 13th century. It is surrounded by a spacious park with a chapel and striking memorial temples. Castle tours are always offered on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays in the season, the cost is 3.50 euros per person.

The vast nature of the area also has a couple of exciting programs ready for children. For the younger guests, too, hikes or a visit to one of the many lakes in the region offer wonderful experiences.
In addition, I can also recommend the 105 hectare Schorfheide Wildlife Park, which only houses wild animal species that are native to the Schorfheide, e.g. wolf, otter and various game, as well as animals that are unfortunately already extinct here in the wild, such as bison, elk and Przewalski horse. The park also breeds endangered breeds of domestic animals such as English park cattle, rough-wooly Pomeranian sheep, Exmoor ponies and woolly pigs. Guided tours, but also wolf feeding - after appropriate preparation - are also offered.
In the Schorfheide climbing forest, which is directly adjacent to the wildlife park, you can expect - if you are at least 5 years old - a lot of active fun and great opportunities to move in nature and to exceed your own limits.

The ruins of the 13th century moated castle in Gerswalde offer a medieval ambience in the middle of nature. Various events await you here, e.g. mobile cinema, knight's camp with medieval market or the annual castle festival. Furthermore, the Gerswalder Heimatstube and the fishing museum as well as a picturesque inner courtyard.

A visit with children in Templin is worthwhile for several reasons: not only is the Templin natural thermal bath located here, which offers a brine bath, toddler, sauna and wellness area all year round and in all weathers; Here you will also find the "Templiner Ring" kart track, one of the most beautiful outdoor kart tracks in Germany, and the western town of El Dorado, where films with Hollywood stars such as Quentin Tarrantino, Brad Pitt and George Clooney have been shot. There are regular stunt and Indian shows, but also an adventure playground, petting zoo, a stunt workshop for children and much more.

You will feel a touch of Africa in the middle of the Uckermark at the ostrich farm Berkenlatten, where you can experience the largest birds on earth up close. With the exception of Tuesday and Wednesday, guided tours are offered here every day, during which you can visit Hugo ostrich, for example.