Swallows, chickens, goats, dogs, peacocks, chipmunks, kangaroos, horses: it’s a picture-book idyll that awaits visitors at the Gammersbacher Mühle. Add to that the babbling of the mill stream - the only thing missing is the rumbling of the mill wheel. “Since our last flood in July 2021, the tunnel to the stream has not yet been de-silted,” owner Clais Ihm reports. He is sorry about this, especially in view of the 29th German mill day on Whit Monday, when he traditionally opens the mill gates.

Two more water mills can be visited today in Much, which is not far from the Gammersbach mill. The Reichensteiner mill has been documented as a flour mill since 1670. The two-storey mill building was once the “count's mill” of the house of Reichenstein and dates in its present form from before the 19th century. Like the Gammersbach mill, the Reichenstein mill was a popular excursion destination with a pub from around 1930, but it has been closed for years.

A little further up the Wahnbach is the Altenhofer Mühle, which is closely connected to the Reichensteiner. It was once run by a sister of the Reichenstein master miller. The overshot grain and oil mill has been shut down since 1960 and is now a residential building. The year 1805 can be read on a wooden beam, the building dates from around 1900. All three water mills have the idyllic half-timbered ambience in common.

The Gammersbach mill in the idyllic Gammersbach valley on the stream of the same name, a tributary of the Sülz, is located northwest of Lohmar. It was first mentioned in a document in 1613. In 1885, six people were documented as living there. The flour mill was in operation until 1990 and is still in working order. It is still in operation today for show purposes.

The Gammersbach mill is open to visitors on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 11 am. It is particularly suitable for families with children, as pony rides, archery, a petting zoo, carriage and covered wagon rides, trampoline jumping and a tour of the mill are all on offer, along with home-baked cakes and bread from the stone oven. Hearty food is available from the barbecue, also in the beer garden in front of the half-timbered house. On Sundays there is archery from 1 p.m. And, on request, crawling competitions on a separate track. The mill can be hired for parties, as can the carriages and covered wagons.

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Bad Godesberg .demolition work on the Kurfürstenbad is scheduled to begin in June 2023 and be completed in February 2024. Costs have skyrocketed due to the tense global price situation and necessary preliminary investigations.

A detailed plan for the demolition of the Bad Godesberg Kürfustenbad swimming pool has been presented by the Bonn administration. The process is complicated. Not only must pollutants be removed and disposed of separately, but a slope must also be secured, which will necessitate extensive subsoil investigations.

The pit will be used for the new building. According to the sports and baths department, the costs of the work amount to about 4.5 million euros. Preparation, building construction and “artworks” are estimated at around 3.41 million euros. “Artworks” means the professional removal and storage of the Paul Magar mosaic. A surcharge of 410,000 euros has been estimated for the “globally strained price situation”. The ancillary construction and planning costs are estimated at approximately 680,000 euros.

It is clear that the new Kurfürstenbad will be even more expensive than expected. Previously, costs of 15 million euros were being discussed, but now the deconstruction costs alone amount to almost a third of the total volume.

Meanwhile, the doors of the Römerbad are scheduled to open at the end of June. Work on the tiles has been completed, according to the municipal press office. Cleaning work will now take place and the pools will have to be filled. “The city continues to believe that the opening date will be 25 June,” says Markus Schmitz of the press office.

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A parked mini-excavator caused a major fire brigade operation in Lohmar-Wahlscheid early on Whitsunday afternoon. Apparently, the vehicle had leaked hydraulic oil, which first ran down a manhole into the sewage system and finally into the Agger river. It is also possible that the oil had leaked from canisters.

Pedestrians had noticed a film of oil on the river and alerted the fire brigade.

In order to prevent a major contamination of the river, the fire brigade first set up a barrier about two kilometres downstream. This was used to intercept the spilled oil.

In addition, the 100-metre-long canal through which the oil entered the Agger was sealed by the emergency services. The contaminated canal inlet is now to be flushed out and extensively cleaned by a special company.

The mini-excavator was secured and moved away to prevent further oil from escaping.