Weser Uplands-Schaumburg-Hamelin Nature Park

The sponsor of the nature park, which was founded in 1975, is the state of Lower Saxony.

Bordered in the north by the forested ridges of the Bückeberg and the Deister, the nature park covers almost 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi) from the eastern Weser Hills, Harrl and Süntel running along both sides of the River Weser southwards to the Ith ridge, the Osterwald and the Thüster Berg, through a very varied landscape of wooded, rolling hills and small valleys with a myriad streams and rivers.

A colourful mix of nature reserves and protected landscapes, towns, several spas and small villages and castles of the Weser Renaissance period mean that the nature park is a popular local recreation and holiday destination in the north German region.

As a result, the landscapes and natural regions of the Weser hills are home to numerous quarries belonging to several companies that extract corallian and oolitic Hartstein.

These include the Messingsberg near Steinbergen, the Wülpker-Egge near Bückeburg and the Papenbrink near Kleinenbremen in the Weser Hills; as well as the Riesenberg near Langenfeld/Hessisch-Oldendorf and the Mattenberg near Hamelspringe in the Süntel.