You hear Black Forest, you think gateau. It is the ultimate in word association. Far from being one of those cliches that the locals hate foreigners to connect with their home, the people of the Black Forest love their Schwarzwaldkirschtorte, Black Forest gateau. And their cukoo clocks for that matter. They are fiercely proud of both. If you are fond of your German cliches, the Black Forest is the place for you.

If you are fond of snow and a warm welcome, the Black Forest is the place for you too. Last weekend we spent two nights in a holiday apartment in the depths of the Black Forest. On the drive there, just over 2 hours from our own house, we began to wonder would we encounter any snow at all. Finally, just as dusk was setting in we crept uphill past the 700m mark and suddenly there was freshly-fallen snow in abundance.

Around 5.30pm we arrived at our accommodation in Lenzkirch for the weekend to a lovely welcome from Elisabeth Hog, owner of Hundelbach. The house contains five holiday apartments as well being home to Elisabeth and her husband. The dog-loving couple are more than happy to allow dogs into the apartments, which made it very easy for us to bring our labrador with  us for the weekend. You can find out more here.

We stayed in the Rehwinkel apartment, which very comfortably sleeps five, equipped with a double bedroom, a 3-bed children’s bedroom, bathroom, kitchen-livingroom and balcony. Waking up to a view of  snow-clad farmhouses on my birthday last Saturday was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. Stepping out onto the balcony in my pjs and breathing in the chilly, crisp air really got me into the mood of spending the day in the mountains.

We spent our first day on the slopes of the Feldberg. The older two took part in a ski course for the afternoon while The Bavarian and I went tobogganing with the littlest. The following day, Sunday, we had a long, lazy breakfast with rolls from the village backery delivered to our doorstep by our hosts. Afterwards we packed up our belongings and headed to the garden of our accommodation to enjoy the snow before departing.

With the house being set on a hill, there was enough of a slope in the garden for the us to use the toboggans provided. The obligatory snowball fight – children against parents – was held too our course. We even had time and snow enough to build a little snowman.

If you are interested in where we sourced our Winter wear, here’s the lowdown:

My gear: pale blue & grey knit sweater C&A, oversized loop scarf H&M, salopettes from a ski holiday years ago, Thinsulate gloves, black crocheted hat made by my sister

Toddler’s gear: salopettes C&A, grey cardigan from friends, Paw Patrol mittens C&A, Winter boots Trollkids

Number 2’s gear:  Winter jacket Geographical Norway Expedition via T.K. Maxx, blue Winter boots Crocs original, salopettes Tchibo, white gloves Decathlon

 

 

[Disclaimer: We booked and paid for the whole weekend and all our gear ourselves. This is not an ad. We were very happy with the accommodation’s  facilities and location and plan to go again.]