Heusenstamm: A Wonderful Surprise

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Moving on from Duren, we opted for a stopover about 2 hours away in a place called Heusenstamm.

We don’t plan our road trips heavily for this reason, we can decide in the moment where to head next.

There was nothing particular that made us choose this stop, Jon picked it because it was on our rough route through Germany.

The best places are the ones you don’t plan

To our delight, the park up was ideal and the town was beautiful!

As soon as we got parked up and took a stroll in to town, I think we both felt like our trip had finally started.

The magic of the evening

A glorious, sunny day can definitely be invigorating, especially in beautiful surroundings.

But for us, especially me, there is no time as magical as night.

It brings out a certain character in your surroundings. Lights add a sparkle and a glow to whatever they shine on.

In contrast, that makes shadows on the objects that are not lit.

the viewpoint of a German street, the photo is taken from a low angle, from just above the cobbles. The street lamps lights up the rows of houses on either side
There is something magical about nighttime
It is night, there is a white building, beautifully illuminated
The rear of the front castle
The view is through an archway, just visible in the top let coiner of the picture. through he archway we see the tower of a church against the backdrop of the night sky. There are trees and tables on the ground below of a nearby restaurant
Looking through an archway to one of the churches
A traditional red British telephone box, it is lit up inside and is full of books
There was randomly an old British telephone box! now a book swap

A building or object may then take on a new shape. Or a street that looks unassuming during the day, now has all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies.

A Castle fit for a geek

When he told me where we were going next, he said ‘and apparently there is a Castle! I was thinking of you!’

He knows me so well. And whilst it was not a Castle in the traditional sense that we could visit inside, it was a beautiful spectacle none the less.

Château de Heusenstamm (Schloss Heusenstamm)

The castle, or ‘schloss’, is divided in to two parts. The front castle is a beautiful renaissance style, built on the forecourt of the original castle in the 1600’s.

The castle park extends in front so at night, the walk through the park and up to the building is wonderful.

A cobbled path extends up to a white rennaisance castle. It is night time, the path is lit with lights. There is grass either side of the path.
The front castle

Lights extend up the path and illuminate on the building, highlighting both the brilliant white facia and the shadows in the cobbled path.

There is a restaurant in one part now. The tables are set out in the courtyard, the perfect setting for an evening meal.

Perfectly blended buildings

As we made out way back towards the centre of town, my attention was caught by the wonderful buildings.

The street we walked down was lined with a mixture of perfectly manicured properties and half timber houses.

Despite this combination, the road itself was as everything else appears in Germany, neat and in order.

a German house is lit up at night by a single lamp. There are flower boxes on the window sills and the shutters are visibly green
A German street is lit up at night, there are manicured shrubs in pots along the roadside and the white houses are in a row either side

Blooming flower boxes hugged the window sills and benches and sheared shrubs lined the cobbled roadside.

Illuminated just enough by the street lamps to create a most charming picture. This place was definitely scratching an itch in my soul!

Always time for ice cream

Back on the main hight street, a green, red and white illumination caught Jon’s attention.

Yes, it was an ice cream parlour! We had not eaten dinner yet and, feeling all the holiday feels, we decided ice cream was an appropriate meal.

After all, flexibility of Motorhome travel extends to flexibility of your diet…right?

A man stands on the pavement of a German street, looking up at the lit menu of an ice cream parlour. The red, green and white sign is illuminated above
a hand is holding up a banana split ice cream. It has chocolate sauce on top. The street at night is in the background
A man and lady are posing together, smiling. the lady is holding a banana split desert in a tray, the man is holding an ice cream cone. They are staying on the pavement at night in a town centre street

Jon opted for some salted caramel, his favourite. I, on the other hand, attempted to be slightly sensible and include fruit in mine.

Ordering a banana split, I was expecting a small portion. Instead, I was presented with a beast of a dish! I couldn’t finish it all so Jon stepped up and helped. What a champ.

As charming in the light of day

After a peaceful nights sleep, we wandered back in to town the next day.

It was cool to walk the steps we had last night and see the contrast of Heusenstamm in the sunshine.

It was just as gorgeous during the day (but night will always remain my favourite!).

A mn and lady are wearing sunglasses and posing together outside of a renaissance style castle. It is bright and sunny, the path and grass are also visible in the background
the picture shows a typical looking German house, white with a triangle roof, brown wooden fronting and green window shutters
The picture shows a timber frame house
a man is about to eat some of his fresh salad, the salads are in takeaway tubs. There is the steering wheel of motorhome visible in the background and a cat is sat on the chair int he background looking at the mans food

We opted to visit the local supermarket for lunch. The ‘Rewe’ had the freshest salad bar we’ve ever had! It was delicious.

And thankfully, the €15 we accidentally spent on lunch because it was by weight and not by carton, was well spent. Our respective salads lasted us two meals.

Everything we need in our Motorhome

There were no facilities in the car park, but that didn’t matter because we were fully stocked and refreshed still from Duren.

Our 140 Lt fresh tank does us well for days!

A white A Class motorhome is parked up in a car park

We can eek that out longer by only boiling water we use, doing our washing up in batches, using pee bottles so we’re flushing the toilet less (also lengthening time in between cassette emptying) and using FreshWipes in between showers (use code ‘NG_REMOTEVA’ for 15% off!).

Where next?

Same as before, we had no idea where our next stop was going to be. But we have everything we need in our Motorhome – power, space, comfort and facilities. So quite frankly, it didn’t matter.

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