The best hikes from bus stations in Torfvenn, Rehrbach

As a nature park host in the Hohe Mark Nature Park, the family-run Hotel & Restaurant "Zur Mühle" combines personal hospitality with regional connection and cozy comfort. The 21 rooms offer suitable accommodation options for different needs – from functional basic rooms to comfortable accommodations for couples, families, and those seeking relaxation. The hotel's own restaurant serves regional country house cuisine with fresh ingredients, as well as homemade cakes and tarts. A bowling alley and the nearby Kneipp pool complement the leisure offerings. Thanks to its direct proximity to the nature park's hiking and cycling trails, the hotel is an ideal starting point for excursions into the surrounding area. The "Üfter Mark" trail, in particular, can be wonderfully combined with a stay. E-bikes and trekking bikes are also available for hire.

A decorated Christmas tree stands in front of the mill every year 🎄

To sit on a bench in the middle of the "green" and to enjoy the peace 🌳🐿️🦌🐦‍⬛

"... Two and a half decades later, the plaques bearing the names of the fallen and missing had become rotten and partially illegible. Fortunately, a member of the association had photographed the plaques in May 1990. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the day on which the side extensions to the memorial were completed in 1953, the local history society took the initiative to achieve their restoration. First, the question of ownership had to be clarified. While the municipal building committee approved 2,000 marks for a similar restoration of the plaques of the Gahlen memorial on September 1, 1976, this time the ailing municipal coffers could not be coaxed out of a single euro for the municipal memorial. In this situation, the local history society intervened. Thanks to chairman Gustav Ruloff's good contacts with the former Agricultural Purchasing and Sales Cooperative, Ruloff succeeded in persuading the members to support a funding project. At their last meeting on October 7, 2004, the Meeting participants decided to donate the remaining capital of the dissolved cooperative to the local history society. The local history society received €4,254.21. Raesfeld sculptor Guido Löchteken was commissioned to create a bronze plaque with the names of the fallen soldiers of the First World War. In order to create a stable support for the bronze plaque, the stone plaque had to be removed. When the local history society arrived in September 2005 with grinders and chisels and removed the plaques, the memorial plaque, apparently dating from 1922, was resurfaced. In October 2005, the plaque from 1922 was covered by the new granite plaque, which bears a bronze plaque. Twice a year – at the Schützenfest (Marksmen's Festival) and on Remembrance Day – the people of Gahlen gather to commemorate the victims of two world wars. After the Second World War, a second memorial was erected for the foreign soldiers who fell in Gahlen, located in the village cemetery. (Helmut Scheffler, Gahlen Local History Society, 2014 (abridged). Created in cooperation with the Biological Station in the District of Wesel e.V. as part of the "Cultural Landscape on the Lower Rhine" project. A project within the framework of the LVR Environmental Network) https://www.kuladig.de/Objektansicht/O-107506-20141111-3

The memorial to the Gahlen residents who fell in the First World War stands in the corner between Bruchstrasse and Kirchstrasse and was dedicated on September 10, 1922. It consists of a trapezoidal stone column and a plaque with the names of those who died between 1914 and 1916. A total of 52 names can be read under the inscription "They died for the Fatherland." At the suggestion of the Gahlen Local History Society, the municipal council decided in 1953 to expand the memorial. "The community made considerable sacrifices and financed the work itself," wrote the local press on November 21, 1953. The following day, Remembrance Sunday, the memorial, expanded by six marble slabs (three on each side), was unveiled after the service. The then mayor, Nuyken-Hedgen, introduced the simple ceremony. He pointed out that the village community was obligated to remember its dead. The community of Gahlen had made numerous sacrifices in the last war. 183 names were inscribed on the stone plaques. These included 98 fallen soldiers, 61 missing soldiers, 19 fallen civilians, and missing civilians. Two decades later, the memorial showed such severe weathering damage that, in the year following the municipal reorganization, the Schermbeck CDU applied for its restoration in the now-incorporated district of Gahlen. In the fall of 1976, the plaques' inscriptions were renewed. ... "

Around the historic village church, the church is truly still within the village. The historic village church is located in the heart of Gahlen. Together with the community center, the Protestant cemetery, the rectory, and the neighboring mill pond, this forms the village center of Gahlen.

"... In 1950, the newly founded local history society campaigned for the desilting of the pond and the restoration of the mill wheel. The association justified the implementation of these measures by citing the mill pond's importance as a firewater reservoir and an attraction for visitors from outside the area. The Benninghoff family, who had owned the village mill since the second half of the 19th century, ceased operations for milling grain for bread in 1955. The bakery shop was also closed. For about two years, the mill served solely to grind grist for Gahlen's farmers. From 1960 onward, the post office and the Hünxe municipal savings bank occupied the front extension, while three apartments were built in the rear section. In 1975, the now white mill building was finally completely converted into a residential building (LVR Department of the Environment, 2012). In 1972, the last mill owner, Ernst Benninghoff, had the 5.80-meter-high mill wheel with its 56 blades installed. restore. A millstone was donated to the Dinslaken "Haus der Heimat" (House of the Homeland). Since then, the mill—picturesquely nestled in an ensemble of the village church, tree-lined mill pond, green spaces, and a fountain made of natural stone—has attracted hordes of weekend retreaters to the Lippe village. The mill wheel, now owned by the municipality of Schermbeck, is maintained by the local history society. (Gahlen Local History Society, 2014. Created in cooperation with the Biological Station in the Wesel District as part of the "Cultural Landscape on the Lower Rhine" project. A project within the framework of the LVR Environmental Network) Internet www.heimatverein-gahlen.de: Gahlen Local History Society (accessed February 21, 2014) https://www.kuladig.de/Objektansicht/O-87065-20140304-2

"It is no longer possible to determine exactly when the first mills in Gahlen used water power to grind grain. In 1405, a man named Wynck was first mentioned as a miller in the Lippe village. The first documented reference to a Gahlen mill dates back to 1508. Numerous structural changes over the past three and a half centuries have contributed to the fact that only traces of the original form of the Gahlen mill near the church (today's Kirchstraße) remain. The village mill was leased in the 18th century by the Winck family, who came from the Bocholt area. Until the 1890s, only the central wooden structure, standing on heavy stone blocks, remained. Its blunt roof matched the profile of the church tower. Photos from the early 20th century show the mill with its brick extensions on both sides, the color of which is popularly known as the village mill. This earned the village mill its name "Red Mill." In the spring of 1945, the mill wheel of the village mill came to a standstill. German troops retreating from the Allied front blew up the nearby road bridge. The explosion also caused damage to the mill house, the mill wheel, and the grinding mechanism. Since the mill pond had also largely silted up, milling by water power was no longer an option for the time being. Since then, one grinding mechanism has been powered by electricity. ... "