Dommel

The Dommel is a 738-metre hill in the Rothaargebirge range, part of the Upland region in north Hesse’s Waldeck-Frankenberg district. It lies between the villages of Willingen and the Diemelsee reservoir within the Diemelsee Nature Park. The summit stands 2.8 kilometres north-north-east of Rattlar and two kilometres west of Ottlar, with the Dommelbach stream flowing around its eastern, southern and western flanks before joining the Itter, which feeds the reservoir. The Dommel’s summit is crowned by the Dommelturm, an observation tower first built in 1909 as a simple wooden frame. A second tower served until about 1945, likely used for fire-watching during air raids. The third and present structure was erected in 1973, then rebuilt in 2007 as a 14-metre-high wooden tower with a steel staircase after the earlier one became unsafe. From the platform, visitors can see the Ettelsberg with its Hochheideturm to the north-west, the Arnsberger Wald, the Teutoburger Wald, the Eggegebirge, the Lipper Bergland, the Solling, the Reinhardswald and the Harz beyond it. The tower’s 360-degree views stretch east to the Habichtswälder Bergland and the Hohe Meißner, then south-east to the Thüringer Wald, the Kellerwald, the Knüllgebirge and the Rhön. Further south-south-east the Vogelsberg appears on clear days. Below, the Dommelbach and Holzbach valleys thread through meadows and woodland, linking scattered farmsteads and the reservoir’s arms. The surrounding countryside belongs to the Hochsauerländer Schluchtgebirge and the Inneres Upland, offering quiet walking trails and sweeping horizons.