The Solling () is a range of hills up to high in the Weser Uplands in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, whose extreme southerly foothills extend into

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

and

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. Inside Lower Saxony it is the second largest range of hills and the third highest after the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...

( Wurmberg; 971 m) and the

Kaufungen Forest The Kaufungen Forest () is a range of steep, wooded hills straddling the border between the states of Hesse and Lower Saxony in central Germany. It takes its name from the town Kaufungen. The hills lie in the fork of the Rivers Fulda River, Fulda ...

(

Haferberg The Haferberg is a hill, ,
in the Kaufungen Forest in Hesse and Lower Saxony in Germany.

Ge ...

; 581 m). The Solling is a cultural landscape consisting mainly of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

forests.

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

also grows in some areas. The Solling forest is home of a number of animals and birds, for example

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

or chaffinch. They can best be observed in the ''Neuhaus wildlife park''. Together with the smaller and lower Vogler range and the little Burgberg to the north, the Solling is part of the Solling-Vogler Nature Park.

Hills

The main hills in the Solling include the following (heights given in m above

Normalnull ("standard zero") or (short N. N. or NN) is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany. Elevations using this reference system were to be marked (“meters above standard zero”). has been replaced by (NHN). History In 187 ...

): * Große Blöße (527.8 m) * Großer Ahrensberg (524.9 m) * Moosberg (513.0 m) – with Hochsolling observation tower * Vogelherd (c. 505 m) * Dreiberg (493.5 m) * Großer Steinberg (493 m) – with "Harzblick" observation tower * Tünnekenbornstrang (490.1 m) * Langenberg (484.6 m) * Bärenkopf (473.0 m) * Wolfsstrang (468.7 m) – with Gaußstein * Schönenberg (457.1 m) * Hasselberg (also called the ''Schrodhalbe''; 452.5 m) – with TV tower * Hahnenbreite (452.0 m) * Alte Schmacht (447.5 m) – with transmission facility * Eisernstieg (446.3 m) * Strutberg (444 m) – with "Sollingturm" observation tower * Großer Lauenberg (442.6 m) * Wildenkiel (c. 441 m) * Auerhahnkopf (c. 440 m) * Hengstrücken (424 m) * Buchholz (421.7 m) * Sonnenköpfe (414.6 m; western peak) * Sonnenköpfe (407.0 m; eastern peak) * Junge Schmacht (388.0 m) * Platte (379.7 m) * Sommerberg (364.5 m) * Kahlberg (224.7 m)

Villages and towns

Villages and towns in the Solling are: * Abbecke * Amelith *

Bad Karlshafen Bad Karlshafen () is a baroque, thermal salt spa town in the Kassel (district), district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It has 2300 inhabitants in the main ward of Bad Karlshafen, and a further 1900 in the medieval village of Helmarshausen. It is s ...

* Bevern * Bodenfelde * Boffzen * Dassel * Derental * Einbeck * Espol * Fohlenplacken * Fredelsloh * Fürstenberg * Hardegsen * Hellental * Hilwartshausen *

Holzminden Holzminden (; ) is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Holzminden (district), Holzminden. It is located on the river Weser, which at this point forms the border with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

* Höxter * Kammerborn * Lauenförde * Lauenberg * Lüchtringen * Mackensen * Merxhausen * Mühlenberg * Neuhaus * Nienover * Schießhaus * Sievershausen * Silberborn * Schönhagen * Schorborn * Sohlingen * Uslar * Vahle * Wahmbeck

Literature

Johannes Krabbe: Karte des Sollings von 1603, herausgegeben und eingeleitet von Hans-Martin Arnoldt, Kirstin Casemir und Uwe Ohanski, Verlag Hahnsche Buchhandlung Hannover 2004.

External links

* http://www.solling.de * http://www.hutewald.de * http://www.hackelberg.de
Wildpark Neuhaus
(with forest museum) {{Authority control Central Uplands Hill ranges of Lower Saxony Landforms of Hesse Landforms of North Rhine-Westphalia Forests and woodlands of Lower Saxony Forests and woodlands of North Rhine-Westphalia Hill ranges of Germany