Herb walks in the Upper Palatinate

The meadows are still fragrant, and the kitchen is busy preserving: September is the season for wild herbs and true Upper Palatinate flavour.

The morning air is still cool over the meadows, the grass is damp, and behind the hills the sun is warming up. This is the perfect moment for a little herb foray around Parsberg.

September is made for this. The tender shoots of spring are now at full strength: yarrow by the wayside, ribwort plantain among the stones, nettles heavy with ripe seeds, elderberries hanging in black clusters. And then there’s rose hips, juniper berries, and the first sloes: in late summer, the Upper Palatinate stocks its larder. And you can walk right through the middle of it.

A 311-hectare nature reserve surrounds our hotel with dry slopes, juniper heaths, beech woods, and the valley of the Schwarze Laber. Keep your eyes peeled, and you’ll spot more herbs in a single kilometre than in the average vegetable aisle. Rucksacks, Nordic walking poles, maps, and our best hiking tips are all waiting for you at reception – free of charge, of course.

And afterwards? Then comes the part we do best: pure enjoyment. The bounty of the season on a plate. Herbs and edible flowers from our own garden, wild mushrooms and berries foraged by our mushroom guru Bernd Wurzbacher, locally hunted game, and honey from the Parsberg beekeeper. In the Hirschenmanufaktur, we preserve what the season provides, laying up jars of plum chutney, quince jam, and pumpkin chutney. So you can still taste the abundance of late summer deep into January.

In the evening, you can relax beneath the trees in the beer garden, a Blobb beer in hand, the air still mild. Or you can treat yourself to a surprise at the Hirschkönig gourmet restaurant, where the menu is built around the best of field and forest. And if your feet are weary from foraging, an herbal compress massage awaits – with soothing regional herbs such as sage, peppermint, and rosemary.