The Wotersen estate, also known as Wotersen Castle, was owned by the noble Bernstorff family for almost three centuries, who played a key role in shaping Hanoverian and Danish politics in the 18th century. The estate is located in the municipality of Roseburg in the Duchy of Lauenburg district in the southeast of Schleswig-Holstein.
The “Guldenburg Castle” Wotersen is located right outside Hamburg, embedded in pristine forests and landscapes with wonderful old avenues.
The facility is designed in a north-south direction and was accessible via a causeway. There was and is no gatehouse; the manor house is a three-wing complex with a courtyard. In the middle of the complex there is a water basin that was used as a drinking trough or flood.
The mansion received its current shape during the renovation in the mid-18th century (see above), during which the building was expanded. The eleven-axis building with a high hipped roof has three floors on the courtyard side and only two on the garden side due to the sloping terrain. The central projection of the symmetrically rhythmically structured courtyard facade has a flat gable that shows the colored family coat of arms made of sandstone. The one-and-a-half-story side wings are each connected to the main building via a flat angular building.
Through the entrance hall you enter a representative staircase in which a large part of the Bernstorffs' portrait collection is exhibited. Most of the other rooms in the mansion are rather simple.
The farm buildings, made of split field stones - a building material untypical for the region - were originally arranged symmetrically along a central axis. The baking and washing house with oat storage and the rye barn date from the 18th century. The manager's house was also built in 1721, the riding hall only in the 19th century.
Today the tradition of cultivating art and culture is continued through numerous events, especially the concerts of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.