Out in the Thurgau countryside, between Frauenfeld and the Rhine, a chain of small lakes lies in a glacial hollow: the Nussbaumersee, the Hüttwilersee and the Hasensee, with the wetland of the Seebachtal around them. It is a place of reeds and still water, where herons stand in the shallows and dragonflies hang over the surface. The Nussbaumersee is the biggest of them, a modest lake with a wooded shore, and a footpath circles it.
Prehistoric people liked it too. The sites at Nussbaumersee and the neighbouring lakes, such as Weier and Bleiche, preserve remains of lake-shore villages from the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and a few of them belong to the Alpine pile-dwelling UNESCO listing. As with most such sites, the evidence is buried, so the pleasure is in the setting: a quiet shore where people once lived in houses on stilts, farming and fishing under the same hills.
The riding is soft Swiss countryside at its best. Narrow, smooth roads wander between orchards, maize fields and farms with big timber barns, and the corners are gentle. Thurgau is apple country, so cider and fresh juice are sold at farm gates, and in spring the blossom is dazzling. Hüttwilen, the nearest village, is small, with about fourteen hundred people. Frauenfeld, nine kilometres away, is the bigger town, with stations, supermarkets and a castle, the largest in the canton, standing on a rock above the old town.
To the north, the Rhine flows out of the Untersee at Stein am Rhein, one of the prettiest old towns in the region, with painted facades. Eschenz and the little island of Werd, with its chapel, are close by. Mornings in late spring or early autumn are best, when mist lies on the water and the light is soft. Bring swimming gear in summer, since the lakes are clean, and avoid weekends in July, when families fill the shore. In winter the lakes sometimes freeze, and the surrounding roads can be icy.