Vettelschloss, Germany — Rolling hills, thick forests and the Rhine River whirling through it all the region of Rheinland-Pfalz, or Rhineland-Palatinate, is textbook Germany. Nearby Bonn was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990, and before that, the Romantic movement descended on the castles and wooded landscapes of the region.
For many, this is Deutschland at its finest.
And yet one corner of it is not German at all. In the quiet village of Vettelschloss, half an hour south of Cologne, is a patch of land that, to all accounts and purposes belongs to Germany’s old rival: England.
“Welcome to Little Britain,” says a banner slung between two houses – a banner draped in the colors of the Union Jack, the UK flag.
The entrance is guarded by two huge statues of lions (like the ones in Trafalgar Square), grenadier guards and a line-up of classic British cars.
If that’s not enough, there’s also a life-size resin figure of the late Queen Elizabeth sitting on a bench beside the door, observing the comings and goings. Oh, and Prince William stands grinning behind a bench, next to those grenadier guards.
Welcome to the Little Britain Inn, a corner of Germany that shall remain forever England.
Step inside to a traditional British pub, where portraits of “Peaky Blinders” actors and lifesize Paddington Bears are your neighbors.
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