Itterbeck in the district of

Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim (german: Grafschaft Bentheim) is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the districts o ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

is an old farming community that has developed into an independent community with almost 1,800 inhabitants (2005). Itterbeck belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of

Uelsen Uelsen () is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony. Geography The community of Uelsen lies in westernmost Lower Saxony, on the border with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, roughly 30 km north of Enschede and 15&n ...

, whose administrative seat is in the like-named community. The name Itterbeck springs from the brook that runs through the community, called the Itter. The Itterbeck landscape is marked by heath, woods and cultivated

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

. In the outlying centre of Egge is found an Evangelical Reformed chapel that belongs to the parish of Uelsen. Worth seeing are the nature reserve and Flora Fauna Habitat ''Itterbecker Heide'' (heath) and the ''Egger Riese'' (“Egge Giant”), an ice-age

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...

several metres high. In 2004, Itterbeck celebrated its 750th birthday. Itterbeck's constituent communities (''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population t ...

e'') are Itterbeck, Egge, Itterbeckermoor, Kleine Striepe, Balderhaarmoor, Itterbeckerdoose and Ratzel.

Politics

Since the municipal election on 10 August 2006, the community council has consisted of eleven councillors, one woman and ten men. The mayor is Lambertus Warnink.

Education and social services

Itterbeck has one

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

. All further learning is handled by schools in neighbouring Uelsen. For younger children, the community has two play groups: in Itterbeck “Wonneproppen” and in Egge the “Egger Zwerge” (“Egge Dwarves”). Since 2001, there has moreover been in Egge a toddlers’ group (a ''Loslösegruppe'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

) which cares for children from 2½ years on up. For older children there is an independent youth meeting place as well as children's afternoon groups organized by the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and the Reformed church parish.

Leisure

Itterbeck has at its disposal extensive

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

and

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

paths which lead either through the community or throughout the whole Lower County. Popular outing destinations are the ''Egger Riese'', the Itterbeck Heath and the sources of the Itter. For some time, the ''Hof für Heimatpflege'' (“Yard for Homeland Fostering”), which brings Itterbeck's past back to life, has been drawing many visitors under its spell. A

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

group belongs to this, and wears authentic, historic Itterbeck costumes. Furthermore,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

courts,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

fields and a

wading pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...

are also open to public use in the community.

References

External links

Joint community’s webpage
* {{Authority control County of Bentheim (district)