"Where I'd rather be..." Verden by bassmount1

Verden is a small city/town in Lower Saxony, Germany about 50 km southeast of Bremen, that sits on the Aller River. Although it may seem small to most, it is perfect to me! It is close enough to Bremen, Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven to make for good day trips. It is also not out of driving distance of The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. It is also fairly close to Hanover and Hamburg.

Verden's "Stork Statio" preserve.

If I had my choice the only place we would stay is with the Gansbergen family. You can find more info about them here
http://www.gansbergen.de/elga/english.html

Elga does not speak English, but her husband Theo does (a little) and so do her son's Torsten and Werner. They are the best people in the world. Their rooms are always clean, reasonably priced and you feel as if you are part of the family when staying with them.

Be aware though, they do book up fast. They have several rooms (our room is the one pictured on their site) between different houses, but they are recommended by the German Bicycle Club and when they are touring, the rooms go fast. I'd book with as much advanced notice as you can.

Some of the rooms are efficiencies, meaning they have a small kitchenette and refrigerator. Some rooms have a DVD, satalite TV, in room phone and private bathroom. They are not fancy by any stretch, but the feel is like you are staying with a loving relative.

• Pros:Small town feel with wonderful people.
• Cons:Can get hard to find a reasonable room rate when the Bike Club is in town
• In a nutshell:I'd live there if I could