British couple Margaret Leach and Martin Holborow have seen off competition from all over Germany to take the Fahrtziel Natur (Destination Nature) special award for 2010.

(GERMANY) 3rd September 2010 – The Fahrtziel Natur (Destination Nature) special award is for the accommodation provider doing the most to encourage guests to use public transport to travel to and within a nature area in Germany, in this case the Bavarian Forest. The couple own and manage 9 holiday apartments in the Bavarian village of Bayerisch Eisenstein, under the name of Bavarian Forest Holidays (http://www.bavarian-forest-holidays.com/).

Guests in their apartments have free use of buses and trains on more than 1,000 km of routes in the Bavarian Forest. Guests are given a specially written tourist information book containing details of travel to numerous destinations in the area and region by public transport. Guests from the UK and other European countries are also encouraged to make the whole journey from their homes by train by providing cheaper tickets than are available to the general public.  

The village can be reached from most major cities in Europe within one day. Since the first guests made their way to the village by train from the UK in autumn 2007, the travel time from London and Kent has been reduced to 11 hours – “breakfast in London, dinner in Bayerisch Eisenstein”. A further reduction in travel time is expected when the Deutsche Bahn starts running trains through the Channel Tunnel, hopefully by 2012.  

On arrival, by whatever means of transport, guests find accommodation which is of a very high standard – most apartments have been awarded 5 stars by the German Tourism Association – but also eco friendly. Three of the four houses have solar panels and two have wood pellet heating. The houses have the latest double glazed windows and other insulation. Guests are asked to place their rubbish into specially marked boxes for recycling and the small on-site guest shop stocks organic food wherever possible.

The couple, whose UK home is in Knighton in the Welsh borders, bought their first property in the village, 1km from the Czech border, in 2004. The other three houses were added in 2006 and 2008 and in total now offer 9 holiday apartments with 1-3 bedrooms, central guest facilities with shop, free book and DVD library, coffee lounge with home made cakes and meeting room, all open to guests 24/7.

More than 2,000 guests have come to the apartments in Bayerisch Eisenstein since the first one was opened in April 2005. Nearly 50% are from the UK, 25% from Germany and 12% from the US and the remainder from 25 other countries. The apartments are open all year, for sightseeing in Germany, Czech Republic and Austria, walking and cycling in the National Parks on both sides of the border and boat trips on the Danube, Christmas Markets, Christmas/New Year, winter sports and activities. Since autumn 2009, Bavarian Forest Holidays has been a Partner of the Bavarian Forest National Park.

Fahrtziel Natur is a cooperative project between the major Germen environmental organisatons BUND, NABU, VCD and Deutsche Bahn (German railways) which has been actively promoting eco-friendly sustainable travel together with experiencing nature, since 2001.

For more information see http://www.bavarian-forest-holidays.com/ or email info@bavarian-forest-holidays.com or call Margaret Leach on +49 (0)9925 90 32 04 (UK) 07976 403434

Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25231786@N08/sets/72157624875934456/

with our permission to use in conjunction with this press release.