Like so many other things here in Rastede, the Vorwerk grounds also have a connection to the manorial residence of the Oldenburg grand dukes. In general, a "Vorwerk" is nothing more than an agricultural utility for a manor house. In earlier times, castles and palaces often had several farms which provided the high lords and their entourage with the necessities of life and a few other things. These farms were located outside and sometimes even far away from the actual manor house and were, in a sense, "upstream" from it; that is why the term "Vorwerk" is used.
(Chickens clucking, cows mooing, wagon wheels crunching).

Of course, there was also such a Vorwerk in Rastede. It supplied the court of the grand duchy with a wide range of food, including dairy cattle. In addition, the estate was dedicated to cultivating tree nursery products - a profession still of great importance in the Ammerland region today.

Traces of this Vorwerk are still recognisable. For example, there are some striking trees, including two ancient lime trees, on the path from the Hirschtor towards the castle, on both sides of this path. Today they stand in the middle of an extensive clearing, but that was not always like this because as court lime trees, they used to belong to the aforementioned grand ducal "Vorwerk". When Grand Duke Nikolaus Friedrich Peter had the palace park considerably extended in the style of an English landscape garden in the 1870s, he also moved the outworks to another location a little outside. In order to make room for the new park, the old buildings had to be removed. When Oldenburg became a free state in 1918, the feudal court and its nursery came to an end. Nevertheless, the tradition of the nurseries was continued in a certain way, as the Albertzard family acquired the site to operate the "Vorwerk Gartencenter", which remained in family ownership until 2021.

In the castle park, the open space of the old Grand Ducal Vorwerk has now been restored to such an extent that the old structures can be recognised today. So take a look at the two old lime trees and imagine the court gardener's carriage passing through them on its way to the palace.