Doren: The panoramic views from here are truly one of a kind, especially when looking to the south. One’s gaze stretches from the Winterstaude mountain to the peak of the Kanisfluh and from the distant Damüls peaks to the gentle pre-Alpine foothills of the Hochälpele. Here the mountains of the Bregenzerwald literally lie at one’s feet. On the drive to Doren from Bregenz via Langen on this cloudy summer morning, there’s hardly anyone else on the road with the exception of a street sweeper (how utterly Vorarlberg!). I pause to admire its work as it sweeps the spotlessly clean country road that winds along forests and cow pastures.
In the morning, the organic farm of Karl and Agathe Lingenhel, a large estate on the road from Doren towards Krumbach, is bustling with activity. In the large old barn, a long board is being cut to size as I descend in the lift with farm-daughter Anna-Lena to the modern part of the farm. In the background, the mountains are obscured in haze as I peer out the wide windows of the new seminar room. Chickens strut through the garden in late summer. In the spacious kitchen next door, Anna-Lena’s mother Agathe stirs her large cooking pot.