The Lindenthal paddocks
Deer and goats in free open enclosures.
Not a natural forest but one made by administrative decision. On the fourth of July, eighteen ninety-five, the Cologne city council voted to turn a hundred and fifty hectares of farmland west of the city into a public wood, and the garden director Adolf Kowallek carried out the design between eighteen ninety-five and ninety-eight: dense planting, ponds and canals, paths, sports grounds and refreshment houses. The wood was extended by about another hundred hectares in nineteen nineteen under a post-war job-creation scheme, to plans by Fritz Encke. It now covers some two hundred and five hectares including the Lindenthal animal enclosure, a small free-entry paddock area with deer, goats and birds that is the single thing Cologne families most often come here for. This is an ordinary-day place rather than a sight: rowing boats on the pond in summer, the Adenauer Weiher lake at the northern end, garden cafes, and Cologne people running and walking. It lies about five kilometres west of the centre and needs a tram or bus. There is nothing here to tick off, and that is precisely its value if you are staying longer than a couple of days.
Deer and goats in free open enclosures.
Rowing boats in the summer months.
Duerener Strasse, 50935 Cologne
No. In two days the cathedral, the central museums and the riverside walk will fill your time, and this is a municipal wood much like those in many European cities. It earns its place on a longer stay, when travelling with children, or when you want a quiet morning away from the crowds — and then two hours including the animal paddocks is plenty.
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