The börde landscape is located in the pentagon of land between Hanover - Peine - Brunswick - Salzgitter - Hildesheim and is dominated by arable countryside with no large towns or cities.
The natural boundaries of the area are: to the west the Leine, to the north the Burgdorf-Peine Geest, to the south the Innerste Uplands and Hildesheim Forest.
Based on the type of land surface and drainage situation, the Hildesheim Börde is further divided into five areas: The Hildesheim Börde region is almost entirely covered by a layer of ice age loess to a depth of up to 2 m. Its soils are the most fertile in Germany and it has been cultivated for 4,000 years.
Large areas are used for arable farming and woods are rare in the Börde due to the intensive way in which the land is used, so much so that it is sometimes referred to as a 'wheat or sugar beet steppe'.
As a result, a federal facility for testing soil values was established at Harsum, part of Machtsum, which was located within the Hildesheim Börde.