Lemgo is one of those German towns where the old centre survived intact, a mass of half-timbered and stone gabled houses in the Weser Renaissance style, grouped around a market place and a clutch of churches. The town of about forty-two thousand people lies in the Lippe region in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest, and was once a member of the Hanseatic League, which explains the wealth of building from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The most famous house is the Hexenbürgermeisterhaus, the witch mayor's house, with an elaborate facade of carved stone, built by a wealthy family in 1571 and later home to a mayor who presided over witch trials in the seventeenth century, when dozens of people in Lemgo were executed. The house now holds a museum that explains the period, and it is an interesting if sombre stop. The Rathaus, the town hall, is also remarkable, with a row of oriel windows and an arcaded apothecary wing, and the market square in front is the heart of the town, with cafés spilling outdoors on warm days.
For motorcyclists, Lemgo is a cultural stop and a place to refuel, since it has everything: petrol stations, restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets. The old centre is largely pedestrianised, so park at the edge and walk in. The roads surrounding it, through the Extertal and across the hills of the Lippe uplands, are quiet and winding, with forest and farm views, and short, steep climbs that give some of the best riding in this part of the country. Surfaces are generally good, and speed limits in the villages are checked.
The region is known for its asparagus in spring, for pumpernickel, ham and Pickert, a local potato bread, and for the beer from small breweries. Summers are warm and green, and autumn brings misty mornings with wood smoke in the air. Be careful with tram-style cobbles in the centre, which are slippery after rain, and with farm vehicles on the narrow lanes. A short walk along the old town streets in the evening, once the day trippers have gone, is worth the effort.