Tour Report: Knight's Manor "Friendly Neighbor"

I had come across this former knight's manor in deepest Saxony while planning the summer tour 2017 together with my wife. We didn't have high hopes to gain access.
Located on a street corner in the middle of a residential area, partly surrounded with a stone wall - it didn't look like there was any chance of entering this place. But since it was on the way, of course we drove by to check it out
It looked just as we had expected - no chance to get inside.

At the end of the street, some neighbors were gathered around a workbench and apparently discussed ongoing construction on one of their homes. Asking won't hurt, I thought, and I went over to the people, introduced myself politely and asked if they knew if it was possible to enter the old manor house to take some photos.
To my great surprise, the answer was, "That might be possible, ask the lady across the street." Said and done - I went to the house right across the street, rang, and a lady of about 65 years opened the doot. Again, I introduced myself and asked for access to the manor.
Her answer: "Oh sure! Wait  a moment while I get the key from my husband."
Wow.
Just like that! Were we in, and she left us alone. After about 5 minutes, she came back, because she had probably become a little unsure with two strangers in the house, and she asked us a little further what we actually planned to do with the pictures etc.
During the conversation that followed, it turned out that about 5 years before our visit, she and her husband had received the key from the then 80-year-old owner from somwhere farther away with the request to watch over the house. Since then, the owner hadn't been heard from or seen again, and no one knows what happened to him.

Anyway, the lady herself had also been a resident of one of the apartments that had been built into the manor during the time of the German separation and, she was able to tell us a lot about it.

And the moral of the story: Once again, it tunred out that an open and friendly demeanour sometimes does lead to the goal - and that in fact friendly neighbors do exist!


To check out all the photos from this place and to find out about its history, click the button below.