Hofgut Schmitte takes meetings, offsites and company events for up to 190 people in its Bachscheune barn, and groups of 8 to 28 in four further meeting rooms. Weddings and private parties use the barn, the manor house and the grounds. The estate, in Biebertal in central Hesse, has a hotel of about 40 rooms and its own restaurant.
Seminars and company events
The estate sells meeting packages, offsites and workation stays. Every meeting comes with the same kit: a video bar, wireless screen sharing, a magnetic wall, flip charts, pin boards and a moderation case. The team handles setup, cleaning and support during the day, and seating is arranged to the organiser's plan. Food follows an eat-smart approach, with snack stations of fresh and dried fruit, nuts and energy balls, a drinks package with coffee, soft drinks and infused water, and two- or three-course lunches and dinners.
For a company party the Bachscheune can be booked with event catering, indoors and outdoors, with the courtyard buildings as a backdrop. The courtyard terrace and the beer garden serve summer evenings, and the estate also runs its own courtyard festivals.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings use the Bachscheune, a restored barn with a bright winter garden and a terrace by the pond, and the Herrenhaus, the manor house beside the rose garden with a view over the meadows. The kitchen can cook barbecues, live-cooking stations or served menus, and a barbecue at the Schmitte lake is one of the options. Drinks are planned with the couple. An event team helps plan the day, and guests can stay in the hotel and use its wellness area and gym.
Rooms and capacities
The Bachscheune covers 340 square meters and takes up to 190 people. It has air conditioning, blinds, a lounge corner and a terrace onto the lake, and works for workshop, U-shape, block, theater, classroom and circle layouts. Teichblick, 90 square meters under sloping ceilings, takes 28. Boutique, 36 square meters around one meeting table, takes 12. Dorothea, also 36 square meters under sloping ceilings, takes 12 in several layouts. Ritter Henne, 23 square meters, takes 8.
Accommodation
The hotel has about 40 rooms, from single and basic double rooms to standard and comfort doubles and family rooms for up to four people. Check-in is from 3 pm and check-out by 10 am, reception is open daily from 7 am to 8 pm, and dogs are welcome.
Catering
The restaurant cooks with seasonal produce from regional partners and opens from Wednesday to Sunday. Meeting catering is run by the estate, while event catering in the Bachscheune is designed by Talking Tables to the client's brief. The courtyard terrace opens in good weather during restaurant hours.
History and setting
The estate began as a forest smithy. Walls under the Glockenhaus date from 1412, and the Burghaus was built in 1457. The site later became a grain mill, and successive owners added farm, stable and residential buildings around an inner courtyard with a rose garden, so the estate could produce its own bread, meat and eggs. The barns keep their Hessian scratch plaster. Today the ensemble sits between the old mill on the brook, the rose garden and a small lake at the edge of the forest.
Getting there
The address is Hofgut Schmitte 1, 35444 Biebertal. Giessen is the nearest city, and Frankfurt am Main is about an hour away by road.
