Konrad Hamacher Burg Boetzelaer sits on its own lake in Kalkar, North Rhine-Westphalia.

By Joan Scobey
Travel Arts Syndicate DUSSELDORF, Germany -- "Soft or hardboiled?" asked the Duke. He had just brewed tea and was offering eggs, cheese and meat to six guests at breakfast.

We were sitting at a long table in the paneled library-cum-dining room of Ossenberg Castle, his 285-year-old home in western Germany. A crystal chandelier hung from a charming 18th-century ceiling fresco of naked cherubs wafting through puffy clouds. The china was Villeroy and Boch, the napkins were paper.

	Joan Scobey Frescoed walls and ceiling decorate the living room at Ossenberg Castle. Click photo for larger image. If you go: Culture and Castles Information: For more information and bookings, contact Culture and Castles; phone, 011-49-28-24-952000; on the Web, www.culture-castles.de, or contact the German National Tourist Office, 1-800-651-7010; www.cometogermany.com; gntonyc@d-z-t.com. At most of the properties, double rooms start between $145 and $165, sometimes including breakfast. Accommodations vary widely; some rooms are quite grand, most are more than comfortable, and all have private bathrooms.

Our host sat down to join us, and the breakfast conversation turned to the weather, the news and sports, which, in Germany that morning, meant the upcoming World Cup Games. What else would you talk about with Wilhelm Albert, the Fifth Duke von Urach?

Ossenberg Castle was the first stop on a stately homes stay in the tranquil North Rhine-Westphalia area northwest of Dusseldorf. By the time we finished, we had also dined with a count, attended a concert with two barons and shared a bratwurst picnic with assorted chino-clad titles.

The nobility and their ancestral digs are part of a new association of private country estates, called Culture and Castles. Actually, they are rather grand B&Bs, giving guests a chance to mingle with landed aristocracy, sample upper-class life at below-stairs rates and explore lesser-known parts of the countryside.

After breakfast, the Duchess von Urach -- "Call me Karen" -- showed us around the 200-acre estate and the rose garden enclosed by brick walls and stone towers, a reminder that Ossenberg actually dates to the 12th century. In the lovely classical main house, built in 1721, the family and their three children live in one wing, with four attractive guest rooms and baths in the other. Between them are historic salons with paneled walls, glorious ceiling frescoes, antique furnishings and family portraits.

As Karen chatted about carpooling the three children, you might think these are regular folk -- until you remember that the Duke or Duchess are related to the Grimaldis (of Monaco), Josephine Bonaparte, the Thurn und Taxis dynasty and other noble houses of Europe.

Later in the day we drove a few miles to Haus Hertefeld, a 370-acre estate of rolling lawns and towering trees on the banks of the River Niers, where Count zu Eulenburg, formally known as Friedrich Graf zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld, greeted us. Haus Hertefeld has been in the same family for almost 700 years and has been rebuilt many times, most recently after SS troops burned it down at the end of World War II.

The estate now has six guest rooms spread among the former guard house, the administrative building and the evocative tower and its historic cross vault, where one of the two suites is called the Tsar's Room for Alexander I of Russia who stayed there (and left his samovar behind).

The Hertefelds were among the first noble families in the Lower Rhine area to join the Reformation in the 16th century, and the property served as a meeting place for the early Protestants.

Standing before the tower ruins in chinos and a red-and-white striped shirt with his wife and enchanting blond toddler, the Count said, "In 1904, the Austrian Emperor tried to convince my grandmother, who was 18, to become Catholic. After two hours in the garden with the Emperor, she still refused, so he contacted the Vatican to let her marry in both faiths."

The Count's neighbor, Raphael Baron von Loe, described more recent events at his picturesque 14th-century moated Schloss Wissen, where he recently created 10 apartments.

Count and Countess zu Eulenburg in front of the administrative building of Haus Hertefeld, which has been in the same family for nearly 700 years. Click photo for larger image.

"During World War II the castle was used as a hospital," he said. "When the German army wanted to commandeer it, my grandmother, who's now 101, stood up to them and refused to let them take the red cross off the roof. They left and because of her, the castle was never bombed."

For centuries, this Lower Rhine region, which straddles the German-Dutch border, was fought over by emperors and dukes, Catholics and Protestants. The aristocracy left a profusion of stately homes and manor houses in the lovely pastoral region.

Opening them to guests was the brainchild of historian and local resident, Nicole Broegmann, who knew of at least 200 private castles in her home region alone (there are more than 6,000 in Germany).

"The younger generation, who saw the destruction of World War II, want to reconstruct tradition," she said. "They want to bring history into the present."

With a plan for funding and a roster of potential properties, Broegmann launched Culture and Castles. Municipalities would subsidize between 20 to 50 percent of the cost of restoration; owners would commit for 10 years or repay the loan. Today there are a dozen properties clustered on each side of the German-Dutch border, each with two to 10 guest rooms, and many more under restoration across Germany.

The first, and perhaps most expensive, was Burg Boetzelaer by Baron and Baroness von Wendt, who were living in the coach house next to the medieval castle ruins.

"It was this double-cross vault that drew us," said the Baroness, pointing to the stone ceiling in the dining hall of the five-year, $4.5 million project. Because the castle hosts public events and is handicapped-accessible, it received 80 percent government funding.

Don't mistake this castle-rich boomer generation for the idle aristocracy. The Baroness is a teacher, her husband a landscape architect. The others are also professionals. What they have in common is a passion for preserving their heritage and a seeming delight in sharing it with visitors.

From any of the castles guests can cycle along bike paths, follow riverside walking routes, canoe or kayak. Xanten, with a summer arts festival and a Roman Archeology Park, is nearby. Moyland Castle has been restored as a museum with an important collection of Joseph Beuys, the German conceptual artist. In fact, this German-Dutch border area is so rich in contemporary art museums that 10 of them are affiliated as CROSSART, Route Moderne Kunst (Modern Art Route). The best-known of them is the Kroeller-Mueller, whose Vincent van Gogh collection and outdoor sculpture garden make it one of the world's great museums.

Culture and Castles works closely with CROSSART, making good on both parts of its name while providing its guests with a uniquely personal view of this historic region of Germany.