Am Sterndeuterturm

Travelling through Germany and following the Dorling Kindersley 'Back Roads Germany' 'Palaces and Castles of Munsterland' route, we came across Schloss Raesfeld. Clustered around the moated Schloss are a few restaurants, hotels and guest houses and as it was early evening, on the off-chance sought a room for the night which happened to be World Cup Final night. We were given a warm welcome and shown to a lovely room overlooking the castle. There was no evening meal so we dined in the Castle's restaurant, outside overlooking the mirror-calm moat and enjoying the setting sun while a heron stalked the water's edge not 30 metres away. After that, we joined local people watching the Germany vs Argentina final on a big outdoor screen on the back of a truck and drinking beer from a bar set up in the small square for the occasion. It was of course a tense match and the 1-0 score after extra time prompted fireworks, much celebration and - wait for it - free beer from the nearby pub! We tumbled into a huge, comfy bed at some ungodly hour and slept very soundly. The following morning the couple who own the property, who speak exceptionally good English, chatted about how they came to run the small hotel-cum-guest-house which includes a 'trust the guest' mini-bar but little in the way of service late in the evening, which suited us fine. We traded experiences while we were very happy to add a comment to the visitor's book was full of well-deserved plaudits: albeit very few English ones! Suffice to say that the comfort, ambience, cleanliness, simple but effective decoration to say nothing of the friendliness of the family who run it (and live on the premises), led us to stay another night several days later, on our return from a wonderful trip to the Harz mountains. We would visit again without hesitation and next time, perhaps hire a couple of the bikes available and explore the nearby forest tracks. The castle, by the way, is stunning and well worth visiting and dining in. Just to add, this is the second time we have taken ourselves off into Germany and we have never had any trouble finding accommodation wherever we ended up. This rates among some of the better finds!