Excursions in the surrounding area

The extensive estate, reserved for hotel guests, is also home to a listed blacksmith's forge, which dates from the start of the 19th century and was still a working forge up until a few years ago.

The River Peene is central to life in Stolpe, which at this point is also navigable for cargo barges. Until 1945, there was a ferry service between the Stolpe estate and the moated castle at Quillow to the north. For the last few years, a small ferry has started taking pedestrians and cyclists across the river. The ferryman can be requested at the Fährkrug. Many guests use the ferry to go for a walk around Quillow or they can borrow bikes from the Gutshaus to go on a cycling tour. It is possible to borrow a boat with an outboard motor for a trip on the Peene.

Opposite the Gutshaus, on the other side of Dorfstraße, you will find the Dorfkirche. The lords of the manor had a responsibility for lower legal jurisdiction, which was typical of the cooperation between the State and the Church in rural areas at that time.

The Wartislaw church, which was built in 1893 as the sixth church in Stolpe, has been lavishly restored in the past years. You can borrow the key to the church from reception.

Adjacent to the Gutshaus is one of the oldest pieces of Christian history on the Baltic coast. This section of coastline was host to a Benedictine monastery in the 12th century, and its ruins can still be seen today.

Stolpe's surrounding area is also highly attractive. The Baltic island of Usedom with its seaside resorts of Ahlbeck and Heringsdorf is only 30 minutes away

Usedom hosts a former army research institute at Peenemünde. On 3 October 1942, a prototype of the V-2 missile, later known as the "retaliatory weapon", was fired for the first time.

Wehrner von Braun, a former technical director at Peenemünde, later worked in the USA with other scientists on the development of the Saturn rocket, which took Neil Armstrong to the moon in the Apollo capsule on 21 July 1969. With mankind's first steps on the moon, researchers and scientists had fulfilled an ancient dream. This journey to the moon started in Peenemünde.

Today in Peenemünde you can see original parts of the A-4 and Fi-103 rockets in the Information Centre on the island. A model of the "test stand VII" displays the test and launching equipment of the A-4 rocket in detail.

Not much further away than Usedom is the traditional university town of Greifswald, the birthplace of Caspar David Friedrich, a 19th century German painter.

The Hanseatic town of Anklam, the birthplace of Otto Lilienthal, a German pioneer of human aviation and the first person in history to fly, is also nearby.

The Otto-Lilienthal museum in Anklam offers further insights into the life of this pioneer.