A trip to Castle Moyland

Hello lovelies!

Summer is here and longtime readers will know this is my favorite season - although, lately the weather has been all over the place - from steaming hot to rainy and quite chilly! On this particular occasion it was overcast and very windy, but we decided to tour the Castle Moyland anyway. Some of you might remember that I live in an area that has plenty of castles of all sizes and some even privately owned, however, we hadn't visited this particular one yet, which is quite close to Xanten, one of the oldest towns in Germany and famous for its Archaelogical Park, a place we visited some time ago. 

Schloss Moyland, as it's called, dates back to 1365. The estate changed owners several times until  WWII, when it was almost completely destroyed and plundered. It lay in ruins for many years until 1986, when it was decided to have it rebuilt. Under the direction of the architect Karl Ebbers, the exterior was restored to the state of the Zwirner neo-Gothic reconstruction. The interior was reorganized into galleries, cabinets and halls for use as an art museum, based on the historical room layout.

The historic and well-tended gardens comprise baroque and geometric elements, a herb garden with over 300 varieties, a sculpture park and impressive hydrangeas, for which this particular garden is well known. For those with strong legs there is the opportunity to climb up a hundred steps to the viewing deck at the top of the North Tower!

Adjacent to the castle there is a little café where we had coffee and cake after our tour.

Below, I'm sharing a few impressions from our trip to the castle. We went inside to view the current art exhibition as well, however, taking photos inside was not allowed. I hope you enjoy these photos from the gardens!