History
First came the horses.
The Origin
A "remount" was a young horse being schooled for service — a word from a time when a kingdom still raised its own cavalry. In 1898 the Württemberg war ministry built a depot for it on the Alb: five stables in brick, a villa for the commandant, a schoolhouse, avenues of linden and chestnut. They did not build for a decade. They built as if they knew that someone would still be driving through these gates a hundred years on.
The century that followed made the estate everything in turn: model farm, children's home, barracks. It survived all of it without losing its bearing — perhaps because brick does not negotiate.
When the Schmutz family took over the depot in 2012, their decision went against the obvious: no demolition, no overbuilding, no "modernising" that only looks old. The restoration gave the place power, warmth and quiet — and left it everything else. The stables remained stables, the avenue kept its curve, the monogram stayed on the gable. Inside, leather, brass and dark timber quote the tack rooms of old.
Today horses graze on the paddocks again, and celebrations are held where a kingdom once schooled its finest animals. This is not a backdrop, and not a concept. It is the rarest form of luxury: a place that is real — and had time to become beautiful.
The Chronicle
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1898
The war ministry of the Kingdom of Württemberg builds the Remontedepot Breithülen: five stables, a villa, a schoolhouse — home and school to some three hundred young military horses, the "remounts".
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1925
Between the wars, the villa becomes a Protestant children's convalescent home; more than a thousand children spend their summers here on the Alb.
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1961
The Bundeswehr takes over the grounds as a mobilisation base — four decades behind closed gates.
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2011
The federal government releases the depot; the municipality of Heroldstatt takes it on — and looks for a future for the monument.
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2012
The Schmutz family acquires the estate and begins its restoration under heritage protection: brick stays brick, the avenues keep standing, warmth arrives carbon-neutral from wood pellets.
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2013
The first celebrations. The depot becomes a place where history is not exhibited but celebrated.
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2020
The municipal council makes the estate an official wedding venue: civil ceremonies in the brick vault — on six dates a year.
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Today
More than fifty weddings a year, horses on the paddocks, a 4.9-star reputation — and an estate whose best years have only just begun.
You can build rooms that impress. But you cannot build a hundred years.
See the estate with your own eyes — we will show you around personally.
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