Sacred Grove

The Heiliger Hain is a 56.16-hectare nature reserve near Betzhorn in the municipality of Wahrenholz in the north of the district of Gifhorn in Lower Saxony. Especially when the heather is in bloom, many tourists visit the area.
The heath farming in the area of today's Holy Grove, which was operated until 1913, had left behind an extremely nutrient-poor area. The land was practically only suitable for keeping Heidschnucken, which ensured that the vegetation that is still characteristic today consisted of tall juniper and wide heath areas by eating the tree saplings. In 1913, a small area of 2.5 hectares in the heath area was placed under nature conservation and thus protected from the cultivation that was common at the time. In the protected area, only use as sheep pasture was permitted. In May 1913, it was opened to the public as a recreation area with the original cultural landscape of the Lüneburg Heath. The naming was not unanimous: a Hamburg painter had suggested the name Heiliger Hain in reference to a well-known landscape painting by the Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin. However, this designation was not in accordance with the field names Garskrempel or Gaen Krempel, which had been common until then. Hermann Löns, who was inspired by the heath landscape to write his story "Der Quellenbrink", fought in vain at the time for the area to be named with the historically authenticated field name. Over the years, the protected area has been expanded to its current size of around 56 hectares.

Wikipedia