Easy hikes and walks around Melbeck

playground

The Melbeck mill is a historic building that was first mentioned in 1265 when it was sold on the Monday before Ascension Day. About a hundred years later, in 1355, the upper ownership of the mill was again sold to the abbot of the Michaeliskloster. Since then, the mill has been a monastery mill and is subject to tithing until the tithing was replaced in 1834. The current mill building as a warehouse was built in 1907 and was then extended in 1923. The old oil and grist mill became a modern mill that could also deliver flour. The good quality of Melbeck flour was soon known and a solid group of bakeries developed in and around Lüneburg. In the seventies the mill was shut down due to the general death of the mills and the associated agriculture was sold. Since then, the mill has been privately owned and now shows its history and tradition in a new ambience to interested visitors and guests. The NDR III came to Melbeck in June 2005 with a large contingent to report on the 700-year-old mill. Since then, the mill in its current form has been enjoying increasing awareness and popularity as a venue for private celebrations with a special flair. As a unique industrial monument, the work of art watermill offers rooms for celebrating a special and natural way - weddings, family celebrations, events, seminars, workshops and much more. In the warehouse there are extraordinary rooms on all four floors with the old mill machines as contemporary witnesses. On the first floor is the romantic wedding room for civil weddings, the branch office of the Ilmenau community. On the ground floor, the Mühlenkontor, there is food at events and then dancing. The lavishly restored mill machine room with waterfall and running Melbeck brook in the basement is now used as an adventure world with fire and water. Source: https://lueneburg.city-map.de/02010400/700-jahre-kunstwerk-wassermuehle

The nature reserve "Barnstedt-Melbecker Bach" is located in the Uelzen and Bevenser basin in the district of Lüneburg on the border with the district of Uelzen. It encompasses the lowlands of the Barnstedt-Melbecker Bach with its side streams Glindenbach and Billerbeck from Betzendorf to Melbeck as well as adjacent valley edge areas. As part of the Fauna Flora Habitat (FFH) area "Ilmenau with tributaries", the area is of outstanding importance for nature conservation. As a tributary of the Ilmenau, the Barnstedt-Melbecker Bach is characterized by a near-natural, strongly to slightly meandering, predominantly shaded stream with diverse structures. The mostly scree-rich river bed of the upper reaches is replaced by a sandy to gravelly bed in the middle and lower reaches. There are also moderately developed, structurally poorer stream sections. On the wet to freshly damp locations of the lowlands there are numerous spring rivers flowing in from the side. The brook valleys are characterized by damp forests, in particular floodplain and broken forests, which accompany Bach or occur in larger complexes in partly very good condition. In addition, these are closely intermeshed with reeds and reed beds, meadows and pastures. Natural oak and beech mixed forests often grow on the edges of the valley. The area is more characteristic as a habitat, e.g. T. endangered animal and plant species. The lowlands serve primarily as a habitat for a number of rare species of birds, mammals and fish (e.g. creek lamprey and bullhead). In the nature reserve, the living conditions of the characteristic flora and fauna are to be preserved and further improved in the future through suitable maintenance and development measures. Source: www.nlwkn.niedersachsen.de

Apparently "only" a hill in the forest, now overgrown with trees. Prehistoric but very interesting evidence of the history of the settlement of the region. "The first documentary mention of Melbeck can be found in document No. 90 of the monastery of St. Michaelis Lüneburg on May 11, 1265. This document confirms the sale of the watermill in Melbeck by the Knight Huner von Oedeme to the miller Friedrich von Melbeke. Friedrich v. Melbeke was a member of the Melbeke patrician family in Lüneburg. Despite this documentary mention, Melbeck is likely to be much older. Age research up to 1200 BC Chr. Mention, for example, that there are plenty of burial mounds south of Lüneburg. Ergo, this Melbeck area was already populated earlier. Grave finds and grave goods prove this assumption amply. " Source: www.melbeck.de

The Billerbeck in Melbeck is a side stream of the Barnstedt-Melbecker Bach and with its lowlands is part of the nature reserve "Barnstedt-Melbecker Bach". From 2009 to 2011 parts of the Billerbeck were renatured in the eastern section. The straightened stream, which has long been used as a sewage ditch, has been able to develop freely in its new meandering stream bed on four hectares since summer 2011. A diverse new habitat for plants and animals has arisen around Billerbeck.