Tremsbüttel Castle

Tremsbüttel Castle is located in the municipality of Tremsbüttel in the Stormarn district in southern Schleswig-Holstein. As the residence of a former noble estate, it is actually a manor house, but due to its castle-like appearance, it has been referred to as a castle for quite some time. The late 19th-century building has housed a hotel operation since the dissolution of the estate's economy and is thus open to its guests; the park is freely accessible all year round.

In the Middle Ages, Tremsbüttel was located in the border region between the County of Holstein and the Duchy of Lauenburg. In the 13th century, there was a moated castle on the site under the knightly family von Wedel, who, as was customary at the time, soon named themselves after the estate. From the 14th century onwards, numerous changes of ownership took place, which led to Tremsbüttel subsequently belonging sometimes to Lauenburg, sometimes to Holstein, and the legal status of the later estate also changed several times. Thus, from the mid-15th century, Tremsbüttel was initially a noble court, then a noble estate, and finally also a ducal office. The knightly family Tremsbüttel was followed by the families Beynsflet and Heest, then the Lauenburg dukes and from 1544 the Schleswig-Holstein dukes, under whom the castle primarily served as a hunting lodge. The moated castle, originally consisting of little more than a fortified residential tower, was expanded into a hunting lodge during that time. From the mid-17th century, the estate passed to the old-established Ahlefeld family and from 1670 to Magnus von Wedderkop, whose son Gottfried later had the manor house Steinhorst built, which had a similarly eventful history of ownership.

In the 18th century, Tremsbüttel continued to serve as a ducal administrative seat, which was managed by Christian zu Stolberg-Stolberg from 1777 to 1800. Under the ducal bailiff, the estate experienced a cultural heyday. Around 1780, Stolberg had a new manor house built on the property and welcomed guests such as Matthias Claudius, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, and Wilhelm von Humboldt to the estate. The Stolberg family was followed by numerous changes of ownership in the 19th century, the most significant of which took place under the Hasenclever family in 1883. The Hasenclevers, who came from the upper middle class, modernized the estate, introduced social benefits for the employees of the agricultural enterprise, and had the present manor house built. They resided at Tremsbüttel until 1939, when they had to sell the property for economic reasons. The estate was subsequently parceled out and gradually completely dissolved by 1961, and the manor house was converted into a castle hotel. As such, it has served under various operators to the present day. Among the most famous guests of the house were the Beatles, who stayed at the castle in 1966 as part of their only German tour. In 1983, the film "Catch your dreams" was shot here. For several years, the castle grounds also housed a car museum, primarily featuring classic cars, which was later moved to Hamburg and closed in 1997.