Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel spent their summers in Buckow in the 1950s, in a house by the lake, and it was here that Brecht wrote the Buckow Elegies, a series of short poems tinged with disillusion. The house is now a small museum, with Weigel's old covered wagon from Mother Courage in the barn. The playwright was not the first to fall for Buckow; the novelist Theodor Fontane praised the area, and the doctors of the nineteenth century prescribed its air for the nerves.
Buckow is the heart of the Märkische Schweiz, the Brandenburg Switzerland, a name that makes Swiss visitors smile but captures something real. After the flat lands around Berlin, the landscape here is surprisingly hilly, with steep wooded slopes, ravines, streams and clear lakes, all left by the glaciers of the last Ice Age. The Schermützelsee, on which Buckow sits, is surrounded by beech forests, and walking trails lead through the hills to viewpoints and springs.
The riding here is a delight by Brandenburg standards. The roads climb and descend through the forests, with real curves and gradients, and the views over the lakes and hills are lovely. They are narrow in places, with tree-lined avenues and cobbled village streets, and they can be busy with cyclists and walkers on weekends. Watch for wildlife and for leaves on the road in autumn.
Buckow has cafés, restaurants and a few shops, but fuel is more easily found in Müncheberg or Strausberg. A cake on a lakeside terrace, followed by a short walk to the Brecht-Weigel house, makes a perfect break. The Scharmützelsee, a larger and busier lake, lies to the south.