by Eva
What feels like an eternity ago already, we spent some days at a big lake in Northern Germany near Hanover – Steinhuder Meer – where we waited for my mum to join us and visit family. Since the weather was lovely, we hopped on our bikes and went on a discovery tour around the lake. We did take lunch, but we also spent quite some time bathing and it’s quite the tour, so in the late afternoon we became hungry and quickly asked Google where we could have a snack. Google told us that there was a bio bakery nearby and even though we were already short of money then, we were too curious and wanted to try (we just love to discover organic options and support small businesses).
We entered the sleepy village of Winzlar, full of red brick farms with beautifully decorated gables and extensive gardens, and after about a kilometre we found the café. It’s located in one of those wonderful farms with comfortably arranged tables, benches and chairs in the garden. You sip your coffee under apple and chestnut trees with flowers all around. There is also a sand pit with lots of toys for the kids and swings. An artistic stone fountain is bubbling happily at the entrance. The interior is fully furnished in wood and glass and the produce looks incredibly tasty – I wanted to try it all! The goods range from different types of bread, rolls and pretzels to pastries, cakes and tartelettes. Everything’s homemade, with freshly ground wholegrain flour and natural ingredients only, and you get sour dough bread as well. We bought some rye bread with sunflower seeds which was very good. Unfortunately, they don’t have a bread cutting machine, but at least you save money on the gym 😉
To fill our stomachs, we had a raspberry cake with yoghurt cream for Lotti and German crumble cheesecake for Eva. Julien tried a Käsestange (a small twisted loaf made from pretzel dough which is sprinkled with cheese before it’s baked). Julien also had a coffee and we had organic lemonade. It was all delicious. It was so good that I went back inside just to have a look around and started to chat with the owner of the place. They are really friendly and we chatted a bit about our trip and the business and so on. In the end I got to try the small almond buns with dried apricot which were also very tasty. In the summer they also serve homemade ice cream which looked really good but I didn’t try it because I was too full (and that means something).
Unfortunately, we were too hungry to take pics first and then we had to hurry a little because it was getting late and we still had some kilometres to do to get back to the camper. So all the pics used in this post are not my own. But I really cherish the memories of this lovely, tranquil place and I’ll definitely go back to it when I’ll find myself near Steinhuder Meer in the future. Apparently they also sell their products on fairs throughout Germany and even in Austria so I might get my hands on some fantastic bread and cake anyways without having to travel all the way there. You can find out more on their website: http://norberthoneck.de (as far as I can see it’s only available in German for the moment).
I can only recommend this place with all my heart. If you’re near Steinhuder Meer, it’s definitely worth a visit. And exploring Steinhuder Meer is awesome, too, of course (you can paddle around on a SUP, rent a boat, take the bike, explore the national parks, go hike, or for a refreshing swim on the bathing island or just have a drink in one of the many lakeside bars – we’ll probably write more about this in a future post).
So HEYHO to cake and see you again soon!
The Faraway Folks 