Arche Warder

A compact introduction to the front of the park, with the animal house, poultry and Turopolje pond. It works well when you want a few memorable stops before playtime.

Adds the water buffalo and Stone Age settlement to the front-area animals. The hour suggested by the park assumes a brisk walk; take your time if the sheep or the village catch your interest.

Choose the fuller circuit for the viewpoint, Schweineland, cattle, horses and Eselland. Allow additional time for the indoor exhibition or a meal.

Begin with the animal house and a few front-area stops. After a play or snack break, decide together whether to continue into the wider pastures or spend more time in the DOMESTICANEUM. Save an unhurried final look for whichever breed sparked the most questions.

Choose three animals and copy their breed names. Draw one feature that helps you recognise each, such as horns, feather patterns or body shape. At home, see whether everyone can match the sketches to the names without looking at the photos.

After watching the livestock, visit the Stone Age settlement and imagine the daily jobs its farmers had to do. Ask everyone to choose one task they would find interesting and one they would find difficult, then look for clues in the buildings and animal pens.

Use the DOMESTICANEUM for games and stories about domestic animals, then make a shorter stop in the Tierschauhaus. Check access on the day and bring waterproofs for moving between the buildings. A family with a dog will need to take turns in the visitor centre.

Poitou donkeys were bred in western France to sire strong mules. Use the breed sign to identify them, then compare their size and outline with the smaller donkeys. Keep watching from the visitor area and do not offer food.

At the pond, watch how a Turopolje pig chooses between land and water. In Schweineland, compare it with other signed breeds, including woolly Mangalitza pigs. Different coats do not make them different species, and a swimming sighting is never guaranteed.

Look for the Girgentana name before looking for the twisting horns. This domestic breed comes from Sicily. Compare the horn outline from a safe distance, and pet only animals in an area explicitly open for contact.

Small, short-tailed Skudde sheep are one of many breeds to look for. Choose two signed breeds and compare their proportions and fleeces. The broad sheep grouping here does not identify the breed; the enclosure sign gives that extra detail.

Find the Englisches Parkrind label and watch the group from outside the barrier. Their name recalls cattle kept in British parks in medieval times. Compare the animals with another signed cattle breed, but never touch cattle.

The Posavina comes from the Sava region and has broad hooves suited to wet ground. If one is standing where you can see its feet, compare their outline with your drawing of another horse. Stay outside restricted pastures and do not feed.

Use the sign to distinguish the water buffalo from the cattle breeds. In warm weather, look for resting or wallowing behaviour. These are domesticated water buffalo; the word European describes their breeding and keeping history, not a separate wild species.

Look closely at the barred feather pattern of the Deutscher Sperber, a breed developed in Duisburg. Compare its markings with another chicken, then try the Vom Ei zum Huhn learning station to explore what happens before a chick hatches.

Find the Ungarische Lockengans sign and compare the loose curls with the feathers of another goose. The unusual feather form is an inherited trait. Give the birds space and keep children’s faces and hands away from their beaks.

Watch for the upright stance that makes this domestic duck breed so distinctive. Let the label confirm the identification, then compare a walking bird with a swimming one if both are visible. Plumage alone is a poor shortcut when several duck breeds share the collection.

These animals are kept and bred in the park. The names highlight domestic breeds, while most animal links cover their broader domestic species; Sheep is a wider group. Indian Runner Duck is a breed-specific link. Use the current enclosure labels for breed names and locations, and allow animals to remain out of view.

The Poitou donkeys graze the park’s dry grassland. Their grazing helps keep this open habitat, with plants such as sheep’s-bit and grey hair-grass, from becoming overgrown. Stay on the visitor paths and enjoy the smaller details without collecting anything.

Some of the park’s animals spend time on satellite grazing sites elsewhere in Schleswig-Holstein. This creates room for larger breeding groups and reduces the risk of keeping an entire population in one place. It also explains why the animals you meet can vary between visits.

The farm shop forms the entrance. Handcart hire, an accessible toilet, outdoor play areas and the Farmküche offer useful breaks. Pushchair parking and lockers are provided outside the DOMESTICANEUM. Food service follows its own timetable, so check before counting on a full meal.