You don't come to Eppenhain by chance, you have to do it. The most remote of Kelkheim's mountain villages hangs at the back of the Ruppertshain district, connected only by Eppenhainer Straße. The district is the highest settlement in the Main-Taunus district, connected to Eppstein by a bus line that takes an idyllic tour of the Taunus via glassworks, makes a small loop through Eppenhain and finally continues through the forest via the former Ruppertshain pulmonary sanatorium "Zauberberg" to Königstein.
Andrea Diener
Correspondent in the Main-Taunus-Kreis
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The history of these villages is mainly based on hard-working farmers and wealthy city dwellers with a longing for good air. On the edge of the village centre with small houses there are imposing summer villas in which young people who are challenged today are to be rehabilitated. Forest and good air are certainly not a disadvantage. There was even a forest swimming pool, but that was a long time ago. The rest of the people of Eppenhain cultivate a village community that is rarely found today. That's why Beate Naab moved here, as she says. The woman has no regrets about it, she is now a convinced Eppenhain resident, and now she stands on the newly renovated playground on Marion-Hunten-Weg and waits for Tyler. And there he comes.
Tyler is twelve years old and a bit out of breath. He regularly has visits from his little cousin, he reports, but the playground was so run-down that he never used it. So one evening he sat down and wrote to the mayor "just for fun", as he says. What the problem is and what he imagines. And Tyler wasn't the only one. Beate Naab found out about it and passed it on to other parents, and soon numerous children's drawings arrived at the town hall about what beautiful things could be done with this playground. Some ideas were discarded, such as the establishment of a McDonald's branch, while others were well received. And soon Frank Behle, responsible for green spaces and playgrounds at the city's building authority, went to Eppenhain with a thick catalogue. The first choice fell on a beautiful tree house with a slide, which was supposed to cost 106,000 euros. Everyone was frightened, then the parents chose the second most beautiful playhouse, which came to about 25,000 euros, and that's how it stands now.
Even though the winter in Eppenhain lasts a little longer than further down and the temperatures are a little cooler, a little sun shines through the clouds on this April day. Jannis and Emily romp around on the new wooden house, the grandparents sit a little apart. Word of the new playground has already gotten around. A wooden fence facing the street was erected next to the wooden house, and at the request of the parents, a sunbed with a table.
Expensive new fire brigade
When the tree around which the tree house was to be built turned out to be sick, it was also replaced. And wood litter was laid on the floor, because the sand was too frequented by the neighboring cats. The seesaws and the swing are still the old ones and of course the spectacular natural rocks in the background, on which you can climb wonderfully. This is not the largest playground in Kelkheim, "but certainly the most beautiful," says Mayor Albrecht Kündiger (UKW). The city does not forget its districts, and here they have decided to let the parents have a say.