Domäne Mechtildshausen

I met my friend Ina for a meal and coffee at this lovely place today. It‘s an organic farm with a huge shop, a restaurant and a café, plus rooms you can rent for events. It also has its own bakery and butchery.

All of it is run by a city-owned company that offers apprenticeships - and other kinds of job training - to young people from difficult backgrounds or without a school certificate. Here, they can learn lots of different jobs; from farmer or gardener to butcher, baker, cook, salesperson or event manager.

It‘s very well run, and we had a delicious meal, though the service was slow. You could tell that the trainees didn’t have much experience yet. 

I was surprised that only a few people were shopping and eating there today. Years ago, it used to be very busy at all times. But I have not been there since before the pandemic, and it seems to have lost a lot of customers in recent years, which is a pity. I guess I need to shop there more often. 

The collage shows the central courtyard and the entrance to the shop /market hall (the building once housed horses and a riding school); an impression of the inside, and one of the pretty lantana flowers in the courtyard.