📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Open Houses
💼 What the programme involves
Nearby the youth accommodation houses which are part of Lohra Castle complex there is a camping site which can be used by guest groups, too. For the protection of this area the volunteers will build new fences around the campsite. Beside that they will take care of the nearby natural protected area, a huge meadow with old scattered fruit trees. This area was for a long time out of maintenance, therefore there are many big stones and branches covered under the grass. The participants will collect these stones and branches to enable to mow the grass and afterwards level the ground. Furthermore, the volunteers will close ditches which had been caused when water pipes had been laid in the last years in the whole castle complex and will level the ground there.
In June, July and August Open Houses organises Workcamps and Building Weeks in the same period at Lohra Castle.
The two working groups are living together and they are one community. The only difference between the two projects is the topics they are working on. During the camp it will be possible, that volunteers join the other working group, because of their skills or their own interests. Therefore please also see the Lohra Castle Building Weeks descriptions.
Be informed, that during all projects the work will take place also on rainy and cold days and be prepared for that.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Within the old service buildings of the castle, you will stay in four little houses with 3- and 4- or 6- bedrooms with showers (limited hot water) and toilettes. The equipment is simple but fair. The fully equipped kitchen, which is situated next to the accommodation houses, is a separate building with large tables and benches inside. The atmosphere is rustic and historic.
The meals will be prepared together as they are part of the community life, what means that everybody will be responsible for the meal at least once during its stay. So it would be very nice if you could bring typical recipes from home in order to introduce each other to the preparation of food from all over the world.
📍 About the location
Lohra Castle is situated in the heart of Germany in Northern Thuringia. The castle, which is surrounded by a scenic hilly landscape, is located on the edge of a nature reserve area. Being one of the largest castles in Thuringia, the history of the castle Lohra begins in the Middle Age. The castle is more than 1,000 years old. Today, it includes twenty buildings from different times: medieval fortifications, remnants of a tower from the 11th century, a Romanesque chapel, a manor house from the Renaissance period as well as stables and granaries from the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
The ensemble is situated in the centre of a beautiful forest. For years Lohra Castle was vacant. In the 1990s Open Houses started to restore the castle and to revive it by cultural activities. Since that time, a large number of Workcamps, Building Weeks, exhibitions, concerts and other activities with international participants took place in the castle.
The castle is situated next to a nature protected area. You can explore the landscape by foot; worth seeing is the chapel in Münchenlohra. Excursions to Sondershausen, Mühlhausen or Nordhausen will be discussed once you arrived