A Visit to the Rose Gardens at Heidegg Castle near Lake Baldegg

Wednesday June 29, 2022 -- With this heat there are lots of warnings for electrical storms in the mountains, so we did something totally different this day. We went to see the famed rose gardens at the pretty Heidegg Castle on Lake Baldegg, which is in Canton Luzern and a short trip for us. (Unfortunately most of the roses had already finished blooming, but it was still fun to visit the castle. The plus side was that there were only a few other people there). The valley here is called Seetal, which translates to "Lake Valley". (There is one other lake to the North, the popular Hallwyl Lake).

The other point of interest was the ruins of the 13th-Century Castle Nünegg in Lieli, just 30 minutes distance from Heidegg. But since we still wanted to do some walking, we started at the Baldegg Abbey at the South end of the lake, and walked along the lakeshore to the beach access which also has a restaurant, where we had lunch. Then a walk slightly uphill through farmlands to the ruins, which had access to the top of the walls via a spiral staircase. As this is higher up than the lake, we had a nice view of the lake and might even have seen the Alps if the storm clouds hadn't covered their peaks.

From there a nice forest walk to the Heidegg Castle, a superbly preserved castle whose oldest section was built in 1192 (making this the oldest habitation in Canton Luzern), with loads of additions over the years by successive owners. A coffee in the castle grounds, lots of time spent in the rose gardens, and then a 30-minute wait for the train down by the lakefront rounded off the day.

HIGHLIGHT: The Baldegg Abbey and neighbouring highschool are apparently home to dozens of storks, with several nests built atop various towers. We only became aware of them as we got off the train and heard an unusual clattering noise!

There is a train station right in front of the Canton Highschool, with storks sitting atop each tower (I did not see these storks when I took the photo)

Next to the highschool is the abbey, also with its own storks!

A stork perches on the abbey roof

In several places were large nests, and we figured the "smaller" birds were young ones.

VIDEO:

One parent and two baby storks in a huge nest atop a very tall tower

next to the abbey:

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One last look at the storks in their nest on the convent roof as we head down to the lake.

A short walk along the lakeshore, lunch at the "Badi", then slightly uphill to the castle ruins in Lieli and over to Schloss Heidegg.

On the shore of Lake Baldegg

I'm always pleased to observe the blue herons! (Or, are they the grey ones?)

I've never seen quite such a massive bull in the pastures!

Lunch at the lake access in Baldegg

Heading through the fields to Kleinwangen

The church in Kleinwangen had a particularly nice door

Because we were heading slightly uphill, we could see a bit more of the lake

The ruins of Schloss Nünegg appear ahead of us

It was a very hot day, so a break in the shade was a necessity, even though it was only a very small climb!

Last stretch to the castle

Schloss Nünegg is one of the best-preserved castle ruins in Canton Luzern. It was restored between 2014 and 2016, having fallen apart over the centuries.

A spiral staircase leads up to the top of the walls.

A view of the village of Lieli and Lake Baldegg

The age of the castle was dated to the 13th Century based on the age of an oak beam which supported the "toilet". Can you see me down below?

This particular castle apparently had larger than average windows and was therefore much lighter than castles of its time. It was destroyed by the local peasants who burned it in the Sempach war of 1386

An artist's rendition (extrapolation) of the original castle

The bees were busy in some sort of mint bushes

Near the castle we noticed the cutest little "bee house". This building was commissioned in 1912 as an apiary, and now belongs to the inventory of small buildings worth preserving as monuments in Canton Luzern.

These old granaries / residential dwellings never cease to delight us

Cute flower boxes!

There was a little chapel across the road, currently being "fixed up" (covered in scaffolding), but the inside was interesting with its very old paintings and tiny interior!

Urs found a place to get an ice cream! (It's getting boring now). I thought the cash box, made from a cow bell, was quite original.

A 25-minute walk through mostly forest from Lieli to the Heidegg Castle

First view of the castle as we approach it from the South

The castle museum is above the castle walls on the right. The Rose Garden entrance is on the left. We went to the rose garden first, but it became overcast, so we returned to the castle museum to get ourselves a coffee while waiting for sunshine.

Coffee was self-serve in the castle museum, so even without paying the entry fee, we were able to admire the absolutely stunning wooden ceiling. Those beams were huge!

The oldest part of the castle (residence tower) is from 1192, making this the oldest habitation in Canton Luzern A series of photos on the museum wall shows the various development stages of the castle throughout the years from 1229 on the left to 1705 on the right. At one point the owners built four corner towers, which were apparetly removed by the next owners!