The home of Germany For Kids, Schloss Leizen sits in 50,000 square metres of forest and parklands. Our forest has two parts; the 300 year old trees of various species that form part of the original landscaping of the house grounds and natural forest, typical of the area and home to unique and rare wildlife.
Although the current Schloss Leizen is only about 130 years old, we know that some of the trees in the nearest part of our forest are nearly 300 years old and form part of a previously landscaped area of the original manor house. Also many different species of tree are planted here, not just those that you might expect to find in the local area, it’s certainly a lovely spot to sit and look back at Schloss Leizen.
Germany For Kids is in the Mecklenburburg Lake District (Meclkenburgische Seenplatte) a unique natural environment in Europe with it’s hundreds of lakes and endless ancient forests.
The Müritz National Park is nearby and famous as a safe haven for rare birds, animals and plants. The Park is home to 859 species of beetle! 673 types of butterfly, 593 different mushrooms and 214 bird species. The type of habitat in the park, lakes, marshland, reedbeds and forest extends beyond it’s borders and into the surrounding region.
Here at Germany For Kids we are very lucky to own a piece of this unique natural habitat. Though we have not counted the number of beetles, butterflies, fungi or birds yet, the natural part of our forest is a small area of the larger regional natural environment and we can see here many of the species unique to the area: White Tailed Eagles, Storks, thousands of Cranes, Osprey, Red and Black Kites, Black Woodpecker, Red and Roe deer, Raccoons, badgers, foxes, rare frogs and amphibians can all be seen in and around our little wilderness. Naturally we treat this wild part of our land with care and work with local environment agencies to ensure it remains an important habitat.
We feel very lucky to have these two types of forest in our grounds, in the landscaped area a running track / walking path is under construction and in the wilder areas we introduce our guests to this amazing environment through activities such as our Nature Treasure Hunt, children use modern technology to trace routes with GPS, identify and record plants and animals using tablets and digital photography then create reports, movies and presentations. It also gives us an opportunity to teach respect for nature and the importance of leaving the forest as you found it and creating as little disturbance as possible.
Take a look at some images of our forest taken by our young guests in the gallery below.
