Walnut Tree Path

A large information board stands at the beginning of the Walnut Tree Path at the corner of Rilkestraße – In den Holzwiesen – Im Brett. A second information board is located at the elevated water tank below Staufenburg. The boards provide a detailed overview of the walnut and hazel varieties we have planted and where they are located.

We recommend walking the Walnut Tree Path clockwise and following our directional arrows. From the information board at the end of Rilkestraße, turn left into the Holzwiesen, as the arrow indicates. The first hazel bush no. 1 stands to the right beside the information board. The trees and bushes are numbered in ascending order with “W” for walnut and “H” for hazel.

Opposite the large old walnut tree next to the barn stands our first newly planted walnut tree with the number W 2. The huge walnut tree next to the barn, whose branches and twigs reach across the entire street, bears witness to the many old walnut trees that were planted from Reutlingen through the Echaz valley to Honau 60 to 80 years ago. Some of these old walnut trees are currently being cleared again and we want to integrate them into the Walnut Tree Path.

Along the paved path through the Holzwiesen, continue to the street leading to Weingarten, then to the right up to the water tower to the second info board and to the avenue of newly planted walnut trees – the first highlight of the Walnut Tree Path.

In the second row and on the adjacent properties you will find some old walnut trees that have stood here for many decades.

At the end of the Walnut Tree Avenue in front of the nature reserve sign, our municipality has set up a bench from which you can enjoy the view over the Echaz valley to Lichtenstein Castle and the Gießstein. Next to it stands the small version of our wild bee house.

At the nature reserve sign you will find our directional arrow for the Walnut Tree Path, pointing down to the right. A short, fairly steep gravel path now leads down past freshly planted walnut trees to the next directional arrow halfway along this path. For older people who are not so good on their feet, there is a gentler path halfway up the Walnut Tree Avenue.

About halfway down the steep path, turn left onto a tree meadow crossed by a gravel path. On the meadow stand old traditional orchard trees and among them our freshly planted walnut trees and bushes. Passing hedges and trees, you come to the second part of the Walnut Tree Path. Actually, this area is mapped as an FFH-mowing meadow. However, for many years this neglected area has been overgrown by huge thorn hedges. The succession of forest growth cannot be stopped if nothing is done against it.

For a while you go along the huge thorn hedge before coming to the area we have cleared, where we removed many large agricultural trailers full of cuttings and disposed of them properly. Now you can see the old walnut trees again and many rare flowers growing on the ground, which even experts thought had disappeared from our region.

Immediately before the cleared area you can still see how big and dense the hedge was that almost strangled the trees and all other plants. We have cleared some old walnut trees and made them usable again. Other trees that are still standing in the thicket will also be cleared by us.

We have cleared this large area without slash-and-burn with natural means and mostly by hand and with simple tools. We were supported by a local farmer and the Landscape Conservation Association at the Reutlingen District Office.

At the end of the cleared area, you come again to one of our directional arrows for the Walnut Tree Path pointing down to the right. On a leisurely meadow path, you reach the hiking trail to the Schützenhaus and up to the Imenberg and further to Übersberg and Stahlecker Hof. Here our directional arrow points to the right and after about 200 m you are at the OGV Lichtenstein demonstration garden and thus only a few meters from the starting point of the circular route on the approximately 2.5 km long Walnut Tree Path. Here also stands the most recently planted walnut tree, which bears the number W 40. This is a French walnut tree of the Parisienne variety, which our friends from our French twin town Voreppe brought with them during their visit to inaugurate the Walnut Tree Path.