Preetz is a lake town in the green middle of Schleswig-Holstein, and its old town squeezes between the Schwentine river and a pair of small lakes. Kiel is just fifteen minutes away, but Preetz has its own pace.
The old town has one of the oldest institutions in the region: the convent of Preetz, founded in 1211 as a Benedictine house for noble women. After the Reformation it became a Protestant foundation for unmarried ladies of the Schleswig-Holstein nobility, and it still operates today, with a church of impressive size standing beside a quiet cloister. The convent once owned most of the land to the east, and it gave its name to the Probstei, the district of farming villages that its provost ruled. You can walk around the grounds, and the church is open for visits outside services.
For riders, Preetz is a handy start or finish. The roads that radiate from it head towards the Holstein lakes, small, winding and lined with beech woods and meadows, with the surface generally good and the traffic light on weekday mornings. Bends are gentle and often hidden by the trees, so it pays to keep a steady pace. The Kellersee and the Plöner See, the biggest lake in Schleswig-Holstein, are within easy reach. In autumn, the beech woods turn a rich copper, and mist rises from the lakes at dawn.
Fuel is available at the edge of town, and there are bakeries and cafes around the market, including a good one for a slice of plum cake and a mug of coffee. Schellhorn, a village a little over a kilometre away, has a pleasant lake shore. The region is known as Holstein Switzerland, a name given by nineteenth-century visitors who found the rolling hills and lakes reminiscent of the Alps, though the highest point is barely a hundred and seventy metres. The comparison is flattering, but the countryside is lovely in its own right.