Obstland cycle route

The origins of fruit growing in Saxony date back to the Middle Ages. Fruit, vegetables, spices and medicinal plants have been cultivated in monastery gardens since the 12th/13th century.

After the secularization of the Marienthal monastery in Sornzig during the Lutheran Reformation in the middle of the 16th century, the monastery continued to be managed as an agricultural monastery estate. Since then, the Saxon electors have sustainably promoted Saxon fruit growing by state decree.

In 1892, Dr. Ludolf Colditz acquired the Sornzig monastery estate and established the tradition of modern plantation fruit growing.

In 1900, there were already 8.340 fruit trees in Sornzig alone. An extensive tree nursery was established, which also attracted attention with new varieties. Fruit trees and fruits from Sornzig became known and sought after throughout Germany.

After the Second World War, fruit growing in Sornzig and the surrounding area continued on a cooperative basis. In 1966, the cooperatives in Ablaß, Dürrweitzschen, Leisnig and Sornzig merged to form the "Sachsenobst" cooperative community. At the beginning of the 70s, the "Obstland" established itself as one of the five main fruit growing areas between the Baltic Sea and the Ore Mountains.

Since 1991, Obstland Dürrweitzschen AG has continued the region's more than 800-year-old fruit-growing tradition on more than 1.500 hectares of fruit-growing land. It presents its fresh and liquid fruit products under the product brand "Sachsenobst" and successfully advertises them with the slogan "This is what nature tastes like".

In the "Obstland" you can still experience and enjoy the environmentally friendly and natural cultivation methods of the Saxon fruit farmers on the modern and large-scale plantations.