Familienpark Sottrum, Theme park in Holle, Germany.
Familienpark Sottrum is an 18-hectare recreation park in Holle featuring three lakes, multiple play areas, and nature exhibits spread across connected pathways and themed sections. The park offers various attractions designed around exploring nature and spending time as a family.
The site was a brickworks until 1972, its clay pit later flooded into a pond. Eulenspiegel Park opened here in July 1982, split by a road, with a monorail from Basel's Grün 80 horticultural show; it drew 200,000 visitors in 1983 and went bankrupt in July 1985. Peter Deicke, who had cared for its animals, built the current park on the western grounds in 1986, and remnants of the old park remain.
The park maintains a collection of traditional farm animals, including rare native breeds of sheep, goats, chickens, and geese that visitors can see up close. These animals are part of the park's daily rhythm and let children connect directly with farming life.
The park is built around three central lakes: the largest has pedal boats, the second holds pole boats and islands with climbing castles, and the third is left natural, crossed only by a small hand-operated ferry. A loop path links the themed parks, bouncy cushions and the "Zwergenland" toddler area; two side paths branch off at the restaurant toward the farm, circus and back to the loop.
The park operates without electrical rides, instead relying on human power, with attractions like a bicycle-operated Ferris wheel and manual ferry service across the lakes. This approach combines entertainment with physical activity in an unusual way.
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