I found Brühl an unexpected delight, visiting on a sunny weekend in August 2015. Natalie and I had been to Zollverein the previous day, before spending a night in Cologne.

Characterised by an abundance of detail and gaiety, these two Rococo buildings exhibit a light and intimately styled form of decoration. The highlight of this site is the grand staircase in the main Augustusburg residence, designed by Balthazar Neumann. He is the same architect who went on to create the grand staircase in Würzburg, which we visited on our annual lads’ trip earlier in the summer. The similarities are striking, but for my money Brühl comes out on top.

We walked the path to the Falkenlust (German for falcon lodge). Falconry was the form of hunting that Clemens August favoured. He used his falcons to hunt for animals, but whatever the birds caught was subsequently let go.

Whilst the Falkenlust is self-guided, the only way to see the interior of the Augustusburg palace is to go on a tour. Listening to an English audioguide whilst our German-speaking leader took us around, we saw a good number of the 120 rooms.

The site’s Wikipedia page features only a couple of paragraphs and some dreary photographs of the palace taken in the rain. Because of this I wasn’t expecting a great deal of my visit, but I came away thinking it was one of the best World Heritage Sites I have been to!