Exhibition on three levels: Here you will get the key to the Lueneburg Heath – admission free!
The Heath Experience Centre in Undeloh turns the heath landscape into a tangible experience. A visit is worthwhile all year round. Our exhibition area tells the story of the heath over three floors – from the Ice Age to modern heath management.
The icy past explains how today’s landscape was shaped by ice and wind. Old heath farmers, shepherds and beekeepers tell of their work, which has turned dense forest into vast heath. The focus is on the main character “common heather” (Calluna vulgaris).
On the upper floor you will get to know the animal and machine landscape keepers of the Verein und Stiftung Naturschutzpark Lüneburger Heide. This heath management mix maintains a diverse flowering heath landscape.
Even nowadays, human intervention is important because it is the only way to preserve the cultural landscape. What was created by human hands must be preserved by human hands!
Opening hours
Wednesday – Sunday
10:30 am – 5:00 pm
15.7. – 31.10.
Wednesday – Sunday
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
(Subject to change)
Contact
Heide-ErlebnisZentrum
Inh. VNP-Naturpark GmbH
Wilseder Straße 23
21274 Undeloh
Germany
Phone: +49 4189 818648
Fax: +49 4189 818652
Email:
The café
Photo: Christian Burmester
Enjoy home-made buckwheat cakes and coffee specialities as well as small dishes in our modern café or on the sunny terrace.
Surroundings and parking
Right behind the house begins the Lüneburg Heath nature reserve with its wide expanses of heath and shady forests, with exciting hiking trails as well as cycling and riding paths.
A visit to the Wilseder Berg, the Totengrund and the heath village of Wilsede are a must when visiting the heath.
Photo: Christian Burmester
The Heide-ErlebnisZentrum is the last building before you enter the car-free nature reserve. On the other side of the road is the large Undeloh visitor car park. As a VNP member, you can park here free of charge if you place your membership card behind the windscreen.
A historic house
The “Seume House” was built as an “Altwandererherberge” (old hikers’ hostel) of the VNP and inaugurated on 10th August 1961. Until 1982, up to 1,000 visitors stayed here every year.
The four old hikers’ hostels of the VNP were Alfred Toepfer’s idea: they provided simple and inexpensive accommodation for hikers who were not accepted in youth hostels at the time because of their age (over 30 years). They lost importance when the German Youth Hostel Association cancelled the age limit for youth hostel guests.
Until the end of 2007, the house was used as a nature information centre, souvenir shop and flat.
In 2008, the state of Lower Saxony approved the conversion and expansion of the “Seume House” into a Heath Experience Centre as part of an EU funding project. It was finally opened on 15th July 2009 by Hans-Heinrich Sander, then Lower Saxony’s Minister of the Environment.
Photo: Christian Burmester
The project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund in the “Sustainable Development” programme of Lower Saxony.
