Ötisheim · Enzkreis · Baden-Württemberg

Sleep where the tea grows.

Four shepherd's huts, two rooms in the house and half a hectare of herbs. Two of the huts stand in the middle of the field, 1.5 kilometres out of the village. No neighbours, no noise at all, no programme.

See the accommodation Binders Kräuterei

The idea

A different way to stay,
not a better one.

A shepherd's hut is not a holiday apartment on wheels. It is an offer to have less for a few days: fewer square metres, less technology, less choice. Eight square metres in Flora-Marie, twelve in Horst. You don't move in, you put things down.

By the house there is a garden that guests have named as their reason for coming back for years: several places to sit, a garden shower under the open sky, hammocks between old trees, and five ducks in between who take no interest in anyone. If you want to go further out, it's 1.5 kilometres. Out there, two shepherd's huts stand in a secluded setting in the herb field. The power comes from a small photovoltaic system, the hot water from a gas water heater at the outdoor shower, the warmth from the wood stove. In the evening the fire bowl burns, in the morning the deer stands in the field.

Two places, one business, the same attitude: pretend nothing. If something is missing, it says so on this page. And it is precisely what is missing here that makes our guests come back.

0Places to stay
0hectare of herbs outdoors
0kilometres to the secluded setting
0metres from the station
Green shepherd's hut with terrace, bistro table and chairs in the garden

Part 1

Accommodation

Four shepherd's huts and two rooms in the house. By the house with hot water and Wi-Fi, in the field off grid with a wood stove, composting toilet and fire bowl.

Ansehen
Row of flowering lavender along the field track

Part 2

Binders Kräuterei

Half a hectare grown outdoors, Bioland certified. Grown, harvested, sorted, blended and packed by hand.

Ansehen

Part 1 · Accommodation

Six ways
to sleep here.

The choice is simpler than it looks: do you want hot water in the house and Wi-Fi, or do you want to get out?

All four shepherd's huts welcome pets, at 9,00 € per animal per night on top. In Apartment Sternenblick and Das Gartenzimmer it is unfortunately not possible.

The hut turns as you scroll. Moving the pointer over it changes the angle.

By the house, with comforts

Green shepherd's hut with a curtain at the window, bistro table and chairs in front of it

By the house · 8 m² · 2 guests

Flora-Marie

36,00 €per person per night

The romantic one. Eight square metres in the middle of the garden, a pull-out bed for two, an electric oil radiator for cool evenings. Water comes from canisters, bathroom and kitchen are in the house, or you take the garden shower in the morning - the single most praised thing about the place in the reviews.

  • Bathroom in the house
  • Kitchen in the house
  • Oil radiator
  • Garden shower
  • Limited Wi-Fi
  • Dogs 9 €/night

Each additional person 24,00 € per night, less from 7 nights on.

Mehr Informationen / Buchen
The Egon shepherd's hut in the garden by the house

By the house · 8 m² · 2 guests

Egon

36,00 €per person per night

The rustic one. It stands right beside the front door, so bathroom, toilet and shower are only a few steps away. Pull-out bed with a reading lamp, table by the window, a kitchenette inside the chest of drawers, its own seating area under the parasol.

  • Steps to the bathroom
  • own seating area
  • Kitchenette
  • Bathroom in the house
  • Dogs 9 €/night
  • Spring to autumn

Each additional person 24,00 € per night, less from 7 nights on.

Mehr Informationen / Buchen
Living room with a chest of drawers, sofa, TV and the stairs to the loft

In the house · 18,5 m² · up to 4 guests

Apartment Sternenblick

51,00 €per person per night

The family-friendly one. Living room with floorboards, a sofa bed and a dining table, a kitchen built into the cupboard, and above it the sleeping loft that gives the apartment its name. The large, modern bathroom is right next door. The only unit for four people.

  • large bathroom next door
  • Kitchenette in the cupboard
  • Wi-Fi
  • TV
  • Sleeping loft
  • steep stairs
  • no pets

Each additional person 24,00 € per night, less from 7 nights on.

Mehr Informationen / Buchen
Wooden bed under the sloping roof, a floor lamp and a curtained window beside it

In the house · room · 1 to 3 guests

Das Gartenzimmer

45,00 €per person per night

The simple one. A room under the roof: a wooden bed for one person, a stacking bed for two more, a wicker chair, an old farmhouse wardrobe, floorboards. The large, modern bathroom is next door. And the garden right outside. The cheapest night in the house.

  • large bathroom next door
  • Bathroom in the house
  • Kitchen in the house
  • TV
  • Garden outside the door
  • Wi-Fi
  • no pets

Each additional person 24,00 € per night, less from 7 nights on.

Mehr Informationen / Buchen

In the herb field, off grid, 1.5 kilometres out of the village

Shepherd's hut with a large window front on the meadow, a solar panel, table tennis table and two kayaks in front of it

Secluded setting · 12 m² · 2 guests

Ruhe Pur im Horst

50,00 €per person per night

The uncompromising one, with hot water. A strip of windows along the whole long side, the worktop beneath it, looking out over the hills of the Enzkreis. Wood stove, gas kitchen, its own shower, fully insulated and therefore bookable all year. The big brother of No. 7, twenty metres away.

  • its own shower, hot water
  • Wood stove
  • Gas kitchen
  • Outdoor seating
  • all year
  • Table tennis & kayaks
  • Dogs 9 €/night
  • Composting toilet
  • no Wi-Fi

Each additional person 34,00 € per night, less from 7 nights on.

Mehr Informationen / Buchen
Shepherd's hut on the meadow, with beds, a swing and a hammock beside it

Secluded setting · up to 3 guests · March to November

Natur Pur / No. 7

40,00 €per person per night

The radical one. Light from photovoltaics, cold water pumped by a car battery, two gas burners for cooking. A pull-out sofa for two plus a sleeping loft for those with a head for heights. Composting toilet and outdoor shower a few metres away, hammock, fire bowl. The little brother of Horst, twenty metres away.

  • Photovoltaics
  • Gas cooker
  • Outdoor shower
  • Hammock
  • Fire bowl
  • Dogs 9 €/night
  • Bicycle
  • Composting toilet
  • no Wi-Fi

Each additional person 24,00 € per night, less from 7 nights on.

Mehr Informationen / Buchen

Good to know

A secluded setting really is secluded

No neighbours, no shop, no Wi-Fi, only mobile data. You do your shopping in the village, 1.5 kilometres away; there is a bicycle at the hut. If you're after a hot tub, air conditioning or room service, you're better off booking elsewhere. That is Michael's own sentence, and it stands.

Impressions

Long strip of windows above a continuous worktop, view across the countryside
Horst, the strip of windows above the worktop
Interior with the pull-out sofa, the raised bed above it, a wall painting with a lighthouse
No. 7, pull-out sofa below, raised bed above
Bed with a green and white striped headboard, pillows and a green blanket
Flora-Marie, the bed beneath the striped headboard
Open cupboard with the kitchenette, dining table and sofa beside it
Sternenblick, the kitchen is built into the cupboard
Seating area with a parasol and a table laid in green and white in front of the hut
Egon, the hut's own seating area
Cream-coloured wood stove with a fire burning, a box of firewood beside it
Horst, the wood stove, lit
Outdoor shower built of pallet wood with a towel, open towards the field
A warm shower outdoors, built from pallet wood
Wooden bed under the sloping roof, a floor lamp and a curtained window beside it
Gartenzimmer, bed, light, floorboards
Hammock above a pallet deck, the shepherd's hut behind it
No. 7, hammock above the pallet deck
Small wooden hut on the meadow in winter, fruit trees behind it
The composting toilet stands a little way from the hut
Shepherd's hut with a large window front on the meadow, a solar panel, table tennis table and two kayaks in front of it
A table tennis table. And two kayaks
Shower and washbasin in the green-tiled bathroom under the sloping roof
The bathroom in the house

By the house

A garden
that gets used.

Rose arches over the gravel paths, perennial beds, a pergola, hammocks between old trees, loungers in the shade of the trees, a place to eat under the fruit trees. And the garden shower, which comes up in the reviews more often than any list of amenities.

The garden is open to all guests staying by the house. There are no reserved spots and no set hours. You sit wherever the sun happens to be right.

Overgrown arbour with a window, beds and rose globes on poles in front of it
Hammock and two loungers in the garden under fruit trees
Two garden loungers in the tall grass under trees
Paved path with box balls in pots

Part 2 · Binders Kräuterei

Half a hectare,
all by hand.

On the edge of Ötisheim lies the field the herbs for Binders Kräuterei come from. Grown outdoors, certified organic to Bioland standards. Not in pots, not as a display plot: in rows, with a tractor track.

Growing, harvesting, sorting, blending and packing are all done by hand. Harvesting happens at the right moment, which for flowers means a dry morning and not whenever it happens to suit. Drying is done on racks here on the farm, slowly and in the shade. Sorting is done leaf by leaf, which is why what's left is whole-leaf tea and not tea dust.

What that means in practice you notice on the second infusion: whole leaves release more slowly than cut ones.

Enquire about herbs

Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Wohlbehagen Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Abendrotkräuter Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Das Leben meint mich Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Schlechtwetter Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Balance Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Nervenstark Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Zitronen Verbene Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Argentinische Minzverbene Paper bag with a window, label Binders Kräuterei, Bio-Salatkräuter

Wohlbehagen

What's in it

The blends are made from what grows in the field, in small batches, with no added flavourings and no fillers. Loose tea, packed in paper.

  • Lady's mantle
  • Lemon balm leaves
  • Calendula flowers
  • Rose petals
  • Lavender
  • Mint

Bioland · EU organic logo · organic control body DE-ÖKO-006 · German agriculture. Our products are foods, not medicines.

Tour of the field

On request and by arrangement, Michael will walk you across the herb field and explain what grows where, why in that spot, and what becomes of it. Guests of the two huts in the field may pick small amounts for their own use during the growing season; the shortest route from field to teapot on offer here is twenty steps long.

Request a tour

The offer during harvest time

Four hours of picking, one night free

When the flowers and leaves are ready, every pair of hands counts. Help out for three to four hours - picking, sorting, processing - and you stay one night for free, in whichever unit happens to be free. Meditative flower picking in exchange for a free night: that's the whole calculation.

Anyone who has sorted calendula for an hour understands without further explanation why whole-leaf tea costs what it costs. That is the real gain from this deal; the free night comes on top.

Ask about harvest time

Rows of lady's mantle and other herbs out to the edge of the field
Herbs as far as you can see
Lavender field in full flower, trees and huts behind it
Lavender in full flower, end of June
Drying racks with yellow and violet flowers, herbs and flowers drying
Flowers drying on racks
Drying rack with orange calendula flowers, dark flowers beside them
Calendula, shortly after harvest
View through the polytunnel with rows of plants and freshly worked soil
Polytunnel for the young plants
Herb field in the evening light, sun above the horizon
Evening light on the herb field

The host

Michael

Michael comes from Ötisheim and stayed. He works as a scheduler and runs the farm, which today concentrates on growing herbs and letting rooms. The livestock days are over; five ducks still live by the house and consider the garden their property.

He picks guests up from the station when it works out, explains on the spot how the gas stove works, and answers questions about the field until nobody has any left. Across 110 reviews on the booking portals the average is 4.97 out of 5, and his best score is in the communication category.

He doesn't do it alone. Jutta and Peter are part of the place - good people in the literal sense, who step in wherever hands are needed, and the reason everything keeps running when one of us can't. Stay a little longer and you'll meet them both, and quickly understand: a place like this is not made of square metres, it is made of people.

A very natural place to stay, right among fields and meadows, surrounded by the herb garden.
Heike, guest review
Michael Binder, host in Ötisheim

Getting here & the area

850 metres from the station,
1.5 kilometres to the quiet.

  1. By train

    Ötisheim S-Bahn station, from there 850 metres on foot to the house, about twelve minutes. By arrangement, Michael will pick you up at the station.

  2. By car

    Parking on the property and free along the road at the lower part of the grounds. A short gravel path leads to the Flora-Marie hut.

  3. Always come to the house first

    You never go straight to the field on arrival. If you've booked out there, we take you from the house and show you around; the way isn't necessarily easy to find on your own, and the wood stove needs explaining.

Lavender field in flower with a hut, wide view across the landscape

Shopping in the village

Netto supermarket 900 m · Burkert bakery 800 m · Münchinger butcher 650 m · Schmid bakery 650 m. Organic supermarket in neighbouring Mühlacker. There is a bicycle ready at the hut in the field.

Eating out

Gasthof Krone, plain German cooking, closed on Mondays. Pizzeria Al Forno in the Schützenhaus. That's all there is, and in the countryside that's normal.

On foot and by bike

Stromberg-Heuchelberg Nature Park after 1,4 km, seventeen minutes on foot. The Westweg and the Stromberg-Schwäbischer-Wald-Weg trails are each about twelve kilometres away.

Days out

Maulbronn Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the next village. Alpengarten Pforzheim 12,6 km. Bad Liebenzell 22 km. Tripsdrill 19,5 km. Stuttgart Airport just under an hour.

Common questions

What guests want to know beforehand

Not at the two huts in the herb field, where there is only mobile reception. In Flora-Marie by the house the connection is not stable enough for video calls either. If you have to work, book Apartment Sternenblick or Das Gartenzimmer in the house; the Wi-Fi is stable there. What Horst has instead is something no Wi-Fi replaces: a strip of windows along the whole long side, a worktop beneath it and the open country behind.

Like a dry toilet: no water, a scoop of litter after use. It stands a few metres from the hut in a wooden shed. Michael explains it at check-in. Wet wipes, sanitary products and cigarette ends do not belong in it; they make the compost unusable.

In Flora-Marie, in Egon, in Horst and in No. 7, yes. In Horst it costs 9,00 € per animal per night. The grounds by the house are fully fenced, and the garden has a dog toilet and a dog watering station, both hand-labelled, both meant seriously. On the herb field, please keep dogs on the lead: it is a growing area, and the harvest is sold.

One request: if your dog sleeps on the bed, bring your own blanket or throw. It costs you nothing and us no bed linen.

Yes, in the fire bowl, in the place provided. A basic set of firelighters, kindling and firewood is there for you; more wood is available on site, or bring suitable wood yourself. Please leave the fire bowl where it stands and empty the ashes into the container provided when you leave. No fire in dry weather or strong wind - in summer there is ripe crop all around.

Not in summer. In spring and autumn it does, which is why Horst has a wood stove and No. 7 a small gas stove. Bring warm clothes for the evenings and a torch or head lamp. Natur Pur / No. 7 can be booked from March to November; the units by the house are available all year.

During the growing season, yes, in small amounts for your own use. No whole plants, no roots, nothing to take away in quantity. And please don't walk in the rows that are currently being harvested.

Through the enquiry form on the page of the unit you want: enter arrival, departure and number of guests, and send. Michael usually replies within a day and tells you the price, the additional costs and the free dates; nothing becomes binding before you accept. If you'd rather talk than type, call.

During the flower and leaf harvest: help out for three to four hours picking, sorting and processing, and get one night free in whichever unit happens to be free. No contract, no obligation, no experience required. When the harvest falls depends on the weather; just ask for the dates you have in mind.

Five ducks live by the house. Otherwise there are no animals here any more - the poultry keeping of earlier years has stopped.

General contact

Questions about herbs,
tours, anything else.

For tea and herb blends, for the tour of the field, for harvest help, and for anything else this page doesn't cover. We usually get back to you within a day.

Want to enquire about a place to stay?

Then please not here. Every unit has its own form, right below its description, with arrival, departure, number of guests and the price that applies to that exact unit. It saves us a follow-up question and you half a day.

See all accommodation

Binderland · Michael Binder
Im Krustrain 10
75443 Ötisheim, Germany

Phone: 07041 7193
Email: info@binderland.online

* Required field · For overnight stays, please use the form on the page of the accommodation itself.

Rather talk to someone? Call Micha or send a WhatsApp message.

0171 65 67 744 WhatsApp