Untersee (Ville Lake Chain)

The Untersee lies away from every road in the middle of the forest. In some places and outside of the "rush hour" you could almost believe that you were somewhere in Scandinavia, although the series of the upper, middle and lower sea was not created until 1965 when the railway line was built.

Unter -, Mittel- and Obersee Ville is a chain of three lakes separated by narrow dams in the large forest-lake landscape of the Ville. They are part of the subsequent landscape of early lignite mining from the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, which still characterizes the entire area today. The surrounding, forested deciduous and mixed deciduous forests stand on recultivated land, recognizable by the many woody species, including many locals, but also pines, robinia and red oaks in a few age groups. The lakes represent remaining holes that have filled with water as the groundwater rises and are largely left to their further development. Since forest reclamation in 1925, they have been surrounded by forest, which reduces the nutrient input from the outside, which benefits biodiversity.

Significant in North Rhine-Westphalia, but largely hidden from visitors, are the lawns made of candelabrum algae (so-called characeae lawn), which of the three mesotrophic waters mainly contains the Untersee. It is easier to see the variety of riparian and aquatic plants with large reed belts and extensive floating leaves from spawn herbs, pond and water lilies. They attract a large number of dragonflies that have become rare, which leads to the outstanding biodiversity of up to 32 species.

Source: natur-erleben-nrw.de

Very nice that you can sit directly on the lake. Some benches are hidden and even quieter than it is anyway. You meet people, but it's not overcrowded.