Easy hikes and walks around Herten

On August 13, 1968, Count Egon von Westerholt opened the Lion Park. Initially, 42 lions were kept in a specially prepared area in the Westerholt Forest in Buer, where visitors could observe them roaming freely from their cars. In 1974, a petting zoo was added, featuring lizards, pot-bellied pigs, and flamingos. There was also a petting zoo. By 1975, the park had attracted approximately 1.8 million visitors. In 1978, a fatal accident occurred when a 20-year-old man entered the enclosure at night and was killed by the lions. After the contract between Count Westerholt and the city of Gelsenkirchen expired in 1988, the park was closed. Today, the wooded area is once again open to the public. The former park buildings now house the China Restaurant - Löwenpark.

We make getting started in golf and at Golfclub Schloss Westerholt e.V. easier than ever. To become a member of Golfclub Schloss Westerholt e.V., applicants simply need to purchase a playing permit, which is renewed annually, and apply for membership. Membership is unfortunately not possible without a valid playing permit. Club members can play on the golf course as soon as they can provide proof of their course permit (PE). Adults benefit from our affordable annual membership fee. Special rates are available for children, teenagers, trainees, and students. See: https://www.gc-westerholt.de/mitgliedschaft

A wonderfully quiet place in the evenings.

A cormorant roosting site and a grey heron breeding colony. Every now and then, there's a special bird to spot here. Today, there were three great egrets.

The Herten Castle Chapel was actually built in 1908 on the outer bailey of Herten Castle. But the chapel had a history. The chapel's story dates back to the 14th century, when its founder, Wennemar von Grimberg, endowed it as a memorial for himself and his wife in 1328. Around 1560, the then lord of the castle, Heinrich Knipping, had the interior renovated in the Renaissance style and furnished with a magnificent altar. (This actually happened in Gelsenkirchen!) After a fire at Grimberg Castle (in Gelsenkirchen), the owner, Johann Hermann Franz von Nesselrode, had the entire complex completely redesigned starting in 1733, based on designs by Johann Conrad Schlaun. ] To save the by then badly dilapidated castle chapel (of Grimberg Castle in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck) from complete ruin, the former lords of the castle had the structure dismantled stone by stone in 1908 and rebuilt on the outer bailey of their castle in Herten. The freestanding portal on the path leading to the chapel also did not originally belong to the church, but was the main entrance of Grimberg Castle and a design by Schlaun from 1735. It has stood in its current location since the 1960s. Here you can find much more information about the chapel and Grimberg Castle where it originally stood: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Grimberg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlosskapelle_Herten

Very well preserved old town

In 1725, the construction of a single-story orangery, 35 meters long, 10.5 meters wide, and 8.5 meters high, in the Neo-Renaissance style was completed on the northern edge of the garden, north of the palace and today's daffodil meadow. The orangery fell into disrepair after 1921. Today, however, only a ruin remains of the building's former splendor, which has been gradually rebuilt with donations since 2006.

You have such a wide view, simply beautiful