Rittergut Aue, Manor house in Wanfried, Germany

Rittergut Aue is a manor house in Wanfried with Renaissance features and a red sandstone base, sitting on a large property with nine buildings in total. Beyond the main house, there are agricultural structures from the 19th century that show how a working noble estate was organized.

The estate was founded in 1576 by Reinhard von Eschwege and suffered severe damage from Croatian raiders during the Thirty Years' War in 1637. After destruction, the main house was rebuilt and large portions of the original structure remain standing today.

Above the cornice on the courtyard side are the coats of arms of Reinhard von Eschwege and his wife, a visible sign of the family that held the estate from 1435. The Eschwege family inherited the Aue and Hornsberg families and held the water castle and knight's estate as a fief, from the 16th century under the Dukes of Saxe-Eisenach. Since 2020 the estate has belonged to Gülilah and Andreas Schmidt, who opened a courtyard bistro in April 2026.

The manor house itself can only be viewed from outside, so plan your visit around the exterior and the surrounding estate. It stands at the eastern end of Aue, south of the L 3244 (Lange Straße 53), with the ruins of the former Wasserburg Aue on the opposite side of the road. The house faces a large farmyard ringed by 19th-century farm buildings, with a tree-lined park to the south, west and east.

Since 2020 the estate has belonged to Gülilah and Andreas Schmidt, who plan a animal-assisted children's hospice there after losing two of their six children; the project is called "Lebenshof Rittergut Aue gGmbH". A courtyard bistro opened in April 2026, and its takings go toward renovation and the hospice; the state heritage authority supported the works with over €100,000.