You arrive at Hochfirstweg 1 in the late afternoon and the first thing you notice is how quiet the street is. The forest starts where the garden ends. The loft is on the upper floor and you step into the open-plan space with the angled ceiling overhead and the last of the daylight coming through the large windows. You settle in, open them to the cool Black Forest air, and already the week ahead feels slower.
Mornings in the loft begin with light filling the timber floor. The kitchen is fully stocked with everything you need to make coffee and a proper breakfast before heading out. On clear mornings, the walk down to Titisee lake takes around eight minutes and the water in the early hours holds a stillness that is hard to find on the busier stretches of the shore later in the day. In summer you can swim; in winter the mist sits low over the surface and the walk alone is worth it.
Afternoons open up depending on the season. The trailheads above Titisee lead up toward the Hochfirst summit and across to the Feldberg plateau, Germany's highest point in the Black Forest, accessible by car in around twenty minutes. The town centre has a handful of good lunch options and a bakery worth stopping at on your way back. In winter, Feldberg ski area is under thirty minutes from the door.
Evenings return you to the loft. The open-plan layout is comfortable for three people β there is room to spread out, cook a proper dinner on the full kitchen range, and sit at the dining table together. The building is quiet at night. The forest edge is right there. The air through the open window carries the specific cool, resinous quality of high-altitude spruce woodland, and by the time you are ready to sleep, Titisee has already done its work.