Villas in Teutoburg Forest

In north-west Germany, mostly in the eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia. The ridge runs from near Rheine and Osnabrück south-east past Bielefeld and Detmold towards Paderborn. Hanover is about an hour from Bielefeld by car.

Mostly not. The stock is holiday houses and flats, many in small towns such as Schwalenberg or on the edge of Detmold and Bielefeld. Private pools are rare, so check each listing if a pool matters.

A giant statue of Arminius, the Germanic leader who defeated three Roman legions in AD 9. It stands on the ridge just outside Detmold, and you can climb to a viewing platform at its base. Allow an hour or two with the woods around it.

Yes. The Hermannsweg follows the ridge for 156 kilometres from Rheine, passing Tecklenburg and Bielefeld on the way. The hills are low, under 500 metres, so the walking is steady rather than hard. Shorter circular routes start from most towns.

In practice, yes. Trains link the bigger towns, but rural homes, the Externsteine and Kalkriese are awkward to reach by bus, especially on Sundays. Driving times between the main sights are usually under an hour.

Paderborn/Lippstadt for Detmold, Schwalenberg and Bielefeld, and Münster Osnabrück for Tecklenburg. Both have few UK flights, so many visitors fly to Hanover or Dortmund instead and drive an hour to an hour and a half.

The open-air museum in Detmold has farm animals and old houses to walk through, and the Externsteine have steps up the rocks. Bielefeld's Sparrenburg has underground passages, and the lake at Schieder has an easy path round it.