Schloss Vestenötting

Schloss Vestenötting stands in the village of Vestenötting, just north of Waidhofen an der Thaya in Lower Austria. It began as a medieval fortress east of today’s church, with the churchyard later enclosed by its walls. The first written record of an estate here dates from 1255, when Hernestus de Netich witnessed a charter as a vassal of Hans von Traun of Waidhofen. After Hussite raids in 1430 left the old castle in ruins, the site vanished from documents until 1456, when Wolfgang von Traun and his kin were enfeoffed with the lands. By 1587 Pilgrim von Puchheim had built a new stone wing beside the mill and steward’s house, using salvaged stone from the ruined fortress. In the 19th century the estate was merged with the nearby Waidhofen manor and turned into a forestry office. By 1903 the building had been repaired once more, yet it stood mostly empty for decades. Today the Grafen Gudenus, who live at Schloss Waidhofen, own what remains of the old complex. Visitors find a modest two-storey manor house framed by farm buildings and the village church. The main block still shows the late-16th-century masonry ordered by Pilgrim von Puchheim. Inside, the former forestry offices occupy simple panelled rooms, while outside a gravel forecourt looks across to the church and its old boundary wall. The surrounding fields and wooded hills of the Thaya valley stretch away quietly, giving the place a calm, rural air.