Blockheide Nature Park

The Blockheide outside Gmünd is a stretch of heath and rough pasture in the northern Waldviertel where the granite bedrock has weathered into hundreds of rounded blocks, some of them very large, sitting on and among each other across the open ground. The shapes come from chemical weathering along joints deep underground followed by erosion of the softer material around them, and the results have accumulated names over the centuries - the Christmas stone, the frog, the salt barrel, the rocking stone that can be moved by hand despite weighing tonnes. A network of marked trails links them with information boards, there is a lookout tower and a sundial garden, and the heath itself carries dry-ground plants and juniper. It is flat, easy walking and very quiet, and it is at its best in autumn colour.

What you actually see

• Rounded granite blocks - hundreds of them scattered across the open heath.
• Named formations - the frog, the salt barrel and the rocking stone.
• A lookout tower - the view over the Waldviertel and towards the border.
• Heath vegetation - dry-ground plants and juniper on poor granite soil.

When to go

April to October; autumn for the colour on the heath. Half a day.

Honest expectations

It is a quiet, low-key place - impressive geology rather than dramatic scenery. Facilities are minimal. Boards are largely in German. Ticks are present in the long grass.

Nearby

Gmünd is next door; the Czech border and Ceske Velenice are alongside.