It never fails, leave it to me to bumble around a town that’s all about food when I’m starving. Yes, it’s the “I’m so busy writing that I forgot to eat” diet. Well, whatever weight has come off from that will be put right back on in Nieheim.
Usually I’m torn between all the historical parts of a town and its natural landscape. This time it’s between the history and the food. Sorry, I’m hungry — food wins.
Nieheim lies along a “scenic route” of sorts, the KäseRoute NRW, which in English means the Cheese Route NRW. Seems kinda funny that Nieheim’s landmark is a tower (the Holsterturm) instead of a block of cheese.
It’s a special cheese made here in Nieheim, and the only place to get it is Menne’s Cheese Factory. Not some cold, industrial kinda place — it’s a working dairy farm where they get the milk for the cheese. Talk about fresh ingredients, which you can buy at the farm’s store.
Cheese is such a big commodity here that there’s even a special Deutscher Käsemarkt (German Cheese Market) held in the early days of September on even-numbered years. Yeah, that means you gotta wait for every other year.
Don’t freak out, on the odd-numbered years you’ve got the Nieheimer Holztage, or Wood Days. You’ll still eat good, even if the event isn’t cheese related.
Ain’t a one festival town, in case you’re wonderin’. Get this… Nieheim’s got a couple of Schützenfest throughout its 10 villages — one lasting 2-days, one lasting 3-days, and another lasting 5-days.
Amazing how you’ll find any time to see Nieheim’s 13th century St. Nicholas Church, its Weser-Renaissance style Town Hall that was built in 1610, or its Heimat- und Sackmuseum.
What’s a Sackmuseum? Simple, a museum all about bags. Yes, bags. How else can you carry around all that cheese? ;-)
Of course, now that everyone’s all well-fed, you got the energy to do some hiking around Nieheim. The Flechthecke is a natural area of roses, hawthorne, and hazelnuts — a most lovely place to do it. So is the Teutoburg Forest, for that matter. Or, go see the old Telegraph Station; created long before the days of mobile and smart phones.
Would you look at that, hungry again already. Good thing I’m in Nieheim.
