Circular hiking trail No. 5 through the Brakel mountain region from Brakel via Hembsen and Hainhause

From the parking lot at Bredenweg, the path leads over the Mühlengraben der Brucht and along the old city wall (North Wall). Where the wall ends, until the beginning of the 19th century stood the "Königstraßertor". The bridge leads over the city moat to the rampart, the so-called Schmiedewall between the "Königstraßertor" and the "Ostheimertor". The name of this preserved rampart piece comes from the old forge that stands at the entrance to the rampart and was built on a remnant of the foregate. From the foregate on the rampart, a drawbridge led over the city moat to the actual city gate.
Walking along the rampart and looking at the houses of the East Wall, it becomes clear that the 14th-century city expansion, which occurred as a result of the abandonment process in the surrounding area, took place in the floodplain of the Bruchtaue. The moat and rampart are therefore hydraulic structures designed to keep floodwaters away from the newly documented Neustadt since 1383. Therefore, only on the eastern side of the city, the rampart and moat have been preserved.
The path leads up the Hembser Berg via the Kreisferienstraße. On the left is the city hall, inaugurated on May 26, 1926, and expanded and modernized in the 1980s.
Approximately halfway up the Hembser Berg on the left is the cemetery of the former Jewish community of the city. The memorial plaque with the names of the Jewish citizens who died during the Nazi era was unveiled in December 1989. The cemetery was a burial site for 95 years (1854-1949), with about 230 graves that were devastated during the Nazi era. After the war, the cemetery was restored to a dignified state. It is the only evidence remaining of the former Jewish community.
From the height of the Hembser Berg, there is a good view of the city of Brakel. The simple Cross Chapel on the Hembser Berg was rebuilt in 1961 from gravestones of abandoned graves from the local cemetery through a private initiative. It is the successor to a chapel of which only minor remnants were left by the end of the 19th century.
Heading east, the view glides into the Nethetal, bordered to the north by heights reaching about 300 meters and to the south by heights of about 250 meters. East of Ottbergen, the Nethetal valley widens funnel-shaped, offering a view of the Solling, which acts as a backdrop to the landscape.
Immediately visible are two villages of different structures, Hembsen with about 1,100 inhabitants being the largest district of the city of Brakel, and Beller with about 250 inhabitants being the fourth smallest village among the city's districts.
In Hembsen, the hiking trail meets the main street of the village. Here lies the former Hof Gunst. Through the gate entrance, one can see the manor house from the late 18th century. It is a two-story, plastered rubble stone building with a high basement and a tall mansard roof.
The present church dedicated to Johannes the Baptist was completed in 1840 after 12 years of construction due to the marshy ground requiring pile construction. The church houses a wooden altar with column structure and figures representing saints of the Benedictine order. It is said to come from the church of the former Benedictine convent of Brenkhausen.
Beller is a typical linear village that stretches along the Mühlengraben der Nethe. The origin of this settlement dates back to the time of the Saxon land acquisition. As early as the 9th century, it was part of the possessions of the Corvey Abbey. The wooded hill of Bellerburg east of the village (249 meters) once bore a castle of the Corvey Abbot in the Middle Ages. Since the 14th century, the Asseburgers from Hinnenburg held extensive rights in the village through jurisdiction and claims for contributions. In 1827, the Asseburger sold the western part of Bellerburg (187 Morgen) for 310 Taler to the Beller community.
From Hembsen, the trail leads up the Holzberg to the former communal forest of the village on the Imberg. The Hembser communal forest, belonging to the Brakel city forest since 1970, was previously owned by the Asseburg, Haxthausen, and Kanne families. In 1840/41, this forest was transferred through agreement to the homesteads entitled to wood in Hembsen.
From the height of the Imberg, the highest point of the hiking trail in the upper Muschelkalk, there is a comprehensive view. Three typical landscape forms of the Brakel mountain region can be recognized: the broad basin with the city of Brakel, the valley of the Nethe between Hembsen and Erkeln, and the extensive mountain plateau of the Hegge in the south with the dome of the radar system (318 meters).
The view to the northwest extends over the Bökerhof with the linden avenue, reaching the estate of Abbenburg and the so-called Lippischen Wald, before the Stoppelberg arches like a hump. Directly at the feet of the hiker, the plateau of the lower Muschelkalk (about 200 meters) extends towards Brakel, historically one of the agricultural "favored areas". Therefore, there is no forest on this extensive farmland. In the Middle Ages, this Brakeler field was protected by a defensive wall. This is still remembered today by the Modexer Wartturm, first mentioned in 1383, which stands out surrounded by trees.
The path continues along the edge of the forest. Where the forest now grows, until 1965 was the Hembser communal pasture. About 100 animals, cattle and cows, grazed there in return for paying rent into the community treasury. In addition to farmers raising cattle, there were the so-called "common people" who kept a cow there in the summer to have milk and butter for their livelihood. With the improvement of the economic situation since the early 1960s, the need and interest in keeping one's livestock declined, and the pasture was afforested in 1965. A reminder of the pasture is still the old hawthorn tree (called "Wilhelm-Winter-Buche" in Hembsen) standing about 100 meters into the forest, offering a place to rest.
The path continues along the forest edge and through the former Hembser communal forest down to the Schleeberg shelter.
The hiking trail crosses the county road at Schwarzen Kreuz and follows the Egge-Weser-Weg from Höxter to Bad Driburg. It runs along the western edge of the Brakeler Stadtwald Modexen, the former convent forest of the Benedictine nuns of Brenkhausen. Since 1531, it was a leasehold of the city of Brakel and about 200 years ago became its property.
Behind the city forester's house, the view opens into a wide valley, with the focal point being the Hainhausen estate. Hainhausen is mentioned as a "villa" (village) at the beginning of the 10th century. The Heerse ladies' foundation and the Brenkhausen and Corvey monasteries had rights in this "villa". After many changes in ownership, the estate, a settlement element in the area of former abandoned settlements, was acquired in 1812 by the Count of Asseburg, who built an Italian country house-style mansion. The scattered settlement that now characterizes the landscape was established around 1950. According to the Refugee Settlement Law of 1949, the nobility relinquished land so that mainly Eastern displaced farmers could be settled by the state.
The path follows the county road to a group of oak trees on the left. There is the "Schwarze Brücke" within it. The walls made of hewn stones remind of the legal battle that took place between 1882 and 1886 up to the Higher Regional Court of Hamm between the city of Brakel and the Count of Bocholtz-Asseburg. The count had built a bridge with a clear height of 4.20 meters over the then municipal road Bökendorf-Hembsen, as he wanted to exclusively travel over the count's terrain from Hinnenburg castle to Hainhausen castle. Following a ruling by the Higher Regional Court in Hamm, the city's order to demolish the bridge was deemed legal, as a "heavily loaded harvest cart" could not be obstructed.
The path now initially runs between fields, then along the edge of the Hinnenburger forest to the "Ehrenfriedhof". Since September 1954, the bones of German soldiers who lost their lives in the fight with the advancing American troops between Egge and Weser in March 1945 have rested there. (Information can be found at the entrance to the cemetery.)
The path continues through the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Hain. The area, once a pasture, now a park-like area with a system of walking paths, owes its name to the decision of the city council of Brakel in April 1913 to transform the city's property, about 13 hectares in size, into a "monument of nature" and to name it "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Hain" in memory of the completed 25-year glorious reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II. This is part of the spa area of the city of Brakel, which received recognition as a climatic health resort in 1974. The centerpiece of the spa area is the mineral spring, a carbonated iron-acidulous spring used by locals and guests, showing healing effects in cases of anemia, urogenital diseases, and urinary stones according to judgments. The wellhouse and the promenade hall, built in the early 1960s according to plans by the architect Allerkamp, are now a protected monument.
Passing by the large pond area created in the early 1970s and through the wide meadow of Brucht, the trail leads back to the starting point, the parking lot at Bredenweg.
A section of this trail is designated as the Kaiserbrunnen/Modexen Nature Experience Trail.

Different paths/shortcuts are not maintained by the city of Brakel.