It is located in the rural region of northern Mecklenburg, on the road from Bützow to Schwaan and Güstrow.

The Nebel River flows south of the village, reaching the Warnow at Bützow in the west.

The locality around a village green was founded by German settlers in the 12th century, after the Obotrite area had been conquered by the Saxon duke Henry the Lion.

A chapel was built in the 14th century, the present-day timber-frame structure was re-built after the devastations in the Thirty Years' War.

Already in the late 15th century, the Zep(p)elin noble family, raised to Reichsgrafen in 1792, had moved their residence to nearby Thürkow and Appelhagen.