Thurner Hof

The name "Thurn" derives from an Old High German word for tower and points to the site's origins as a motte. The earliest known owner is Heinrich von Thurn, around 1150. The land register of St. Pantaleon's Benedictine abbey records a Thurner mill in 1322 and 1324. Ownership and tenancy changed hands repeatedly over the centuries, involving families such as von Quadt zu Haus Buschfeld, von Brambach, von Hatzfeld and von der Leyen. In 1627 Adolf von Quadt had the surviving courtyard gate built, bearing the Quadt-Pallant alliance coat of arms. The estate passed to the Neuhöffer family in 1818 before the City of Cologne acquired it in 1911.

A garden of around 7,200 m² surrounds the courtyard to the east and south. It serves as a teaching garden for the adult education centre and is tended on a voluntary basis by the VHS organic-garden working group. Its heart is the cottage garden, with box-edged beds arranged around an old pear tree, where old-fashioned ornamentals such as pasque flower, red foxglove and columbine grow alongside almost-forgotten crops like orache, parsnip and Jerusalem artichoke — some cultivated as teaching examples of different growing methods. The ecological centrepiece is the re-flooded historic moat: varying water depths and an adjoining dry-stone wall created a habitat for aquatic and marsh plants such as yellow and white water lilies, as well as grass frogs, dragonflies, kingfishers and herons. The largest area is taken up by the orchard meadow, where old regional apple varieties such as the Rheinischer Bohnapfel and Rheinischer Krummstiel grow beside plums, cherries and medlars.

Today the estate serves several purposes: the manor house is an outpost of the Cologne adult education centre, while the farm buildings house the stables of the Kornspringer Köln riding club, which also uses the corner tower. The garden is freely accessible and is opened up to the public through courses and events such as the annual plant-swap market.