Top 20 Natural Monuments around Bestensee

Very nice, the paths are easy to walk on

The Tornower See is near Tornow, a little south of Teupitz. There is a nature trail. Very nice paths along the bank and in the forest. There are benches and rest areas.

Circular route around the Pätz lakes The circular route around the Pätzer Vordersee and Hintersee is a little over 16 kilometers long. It's a trail for all seasons. The start and finish is at the train station “Bestensee”. The path leads along the main road fromBestensee to Pätzer Vordersee and on to Pätz with its historic village green. The place name comes from the Slavic and means something like sand. From here we continue into pure nature! A hundred years ago, the hillsides on the east bank of the Pätzer Hintersee were almost free of forest. A few junipers bear witness to the sparse heathland that once existed here. The lowlands with wet meadows are preserved with the support of landscape conservation. On the southern shore of the Pätzer Hintersee there are large moor areas that have been secured as a nature reserve. The path now leads north. An idiosyncratic pine forest with crooked trees is called Schweinewinkel. This is where the pigs used to be driven into the forest to the Waldwiede. Walking through the Pätz Hintersee settlement, you return to the starting point at the train station. Source https://www.dahme-heideseen-naturpark.de/themen/routen-touren/rundweg-um-die-paetzer-seen/

At the end of the 19th century the area became a popular tourist destination. A number of restaurants were built around the "Tiergarten", of which only "Riedels Gasthof" still exists today. In the course of the prince's settlement in 1926, the forestry office in Königs Wusterhausen became Prussian state property. In 1989, a forest educational trail was laid out in the "Tiergarten" for the first time. In 1994, a forest youth group renewed the nature trail at great expense. For Brandenburg Day 2008, the nature trail was again provided with boards by the forester's office in Königs Wusterhausen. According to the forest function mapping of the state of Brandenburg, the area is designated as a recreational forest.

South of the Staabe and east of the Krimnicksee, the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I, who often stayed at his nearby Wusterhausen hunting lodge, had a zoo laid out in 1725 in a 900-hectare forest area for hunting and to protect the wild stocks. The area is now a recreation area with up to 270-year-old oak trees and has been a nature reserve since 1995 under the name Tiergarten. The Neue Mühle hiking trail leads from Königs Wusterhausen via the castle park and the Neue Mühle lock through the zoo and back to Königs Wusterhausen.

A nature trail with information boards leads along the banks of Lake Tornow through a “primeval forest”. The path runs along the lake through rarely found, natural mixed pine forests. Naturally grown pine trees over 200 years old with impressive growth forms and dimensions stretch their crowns over the southern shore of Lake Tornow. They are among the oldest pines in the Mark Brandenburg. It is thanks to careful foresters and botanists that these native pines were preserved. Nowadays they are part of the “Briesensee and Klingeberg” nature reserve. In a scientific sense, the trees are so-called “autochthonous” pines: settled in the region and grown without human influence. This means that the Scots pine (Pinussylvestris) is characterized by characteristics and a specific adaptation to the location. Pine trees also naturally rejuvenate here. As a representative of conifers, the common pine is very variable in its growth form. Depending on the location, it can be 15 to 40 meters high and up to 500 years old. With its taproots it also reaches deep groundwater layers and can therefore survive longer dry periods. In adolescence and in the upper part of the trunk, the bark is thin and smooth and reddish in color. As it ages, the bark becomes grey-brown, deeply cracked and coarsely flaky.

The approx. 80-hectare nature reserve "Briesensee and Klingeberg" is located about 3 km south-west of Teupitz, on the south and south-west shores of Lake Tornow. These are the Briesensee, the southern and southwestern shores of the Tornower See, and the moraine slopes bordering on the lakes within the Zossen-Teupitzer Hügellan landscape unit. Characteristic of the NSG area are the two lakes, a largely natural flow (Briesenseegraben) and several spring areas, of which the "Klingespring", which is protected as a natural monument, is designed as a prominent hillside spring. The water quality of the Briesensee has apparently been in poor condition for a long time, which has an impact on the water quality of the Briesenseegraben. The relief-rich slopes at Tornowsee are partially planted with autochthonous old pine populations. Numerous wintergreen and club moss species were found on the slopes. Due to changes in use, such as the lack of farm forest and litter use, these occurrences have declined sharply in recent decades and are currently concentrated almost exclusively in the area of a few small clay pits. There is a small agricultural area in the area. This wet meadow is part of the contractual nature protection program. The sanctuary is a popular destination for nature walks. Signposted hiking trails and a nature trail lead through the area. On the hiking trail, with a view of the Briesensee, there is a memorial stone for the botanist and local historian Adolf Straus. There are bathing spots at Lake Tornow. Campgrounds that used to be here were completely dismantled after 1990. Source https://www.dahme-heideseen-naturpark.de/themen/natura-2000/briesensee-und-klingeberge/

There are several ways to enter the Tiergarten sculpture path near Königs Wusterhausen, including here at the Neue Mühle. There is also a small parking lot as well as this orientation board with all ten locations of the wooden sculptures along the circular route.