castle garden
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in former times every little pitch of earth inside the castle was used for growing fruit, herbs or vegetables. But the biggest gardening space was outside the walls.
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The main castle garden on the south side is being rebuild now. When these works are finished, the place will be accessible to public. For the moment you only can have a view to it from inside the castle. The best view is from the viewing platform inside the visitor's center
the orchard
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the orchard is located along the outside of the castle walls from the second to the forth gate. There is a platform formed by a second wall in front of the main castle wall. In forteress terminology such an architectural edifice is called "fausse braie". It's meant to prevent artillery projectiles reaching the main wall.
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Here there still were some very old fruit trees which still are in place. New trees have been planted in empty spaces. They are old apple and pear species.
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At the rear end of the orchard an "insect hotel" has been installed to promote natural diversity.
the wineyard
the wineyard has been planted in 2023 in collaboration with luxembourgish winegrowers. There are about 300 plants in this wineyard.
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In the old times many of the hills around Vianden were covered with wineyards, making the place one of the most important centres for local wine. The wineyards have disappeared in the first half of the twentieth century. Winegrowers believe that with climate change Vianden may become a good wine region again.
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The grapes will need some years to grow up before they can procure wine. So it will still take some years before you can taste the wine in the castle café.
stone drywall
being located inside the steep slope of the hillside, the garden patches were installed on terraces created by walls buid of the stone found in place. It's mainly the slate from the hill, but also debris of crumbling and demolished buildings of the castle. So one can find also some yellow, grey and red sandstone among the slate.
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The walls also support a path (called "donkey's path") leading from the town to the castle, ending at the "donkey gate" (see Courtyard)
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From 2025 these crumbling walls will be reconstructed, thus not only restauring garden spaces and donkey's path, but also providing shelter for all kinds of small creatures.