Albgut from the air, brick buildings among the trees, the hills of the Alb behind

How the Altes Lager became Albgut.

Since 2015 the Tress family has been bringing a listed site with 140 buildings back to life.

Welcome to Albgut.

Since 2015 we have been working with heart and soul, and a love of nature and tradition, to bring the listed site and its 140 historic buildings back to life.

Around 100 hectares, largely car-free, in the heart of the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve. Today people stay here, get married, hold meetings and work in the makers’ workshops.

Franz and Annegret Tress and the Albgut team

How it all began.

“The bond with nature, with the Swabian Alb, is something I have carried inside me all my life.”

Franz Tress, 2015

With his company, Franz Tress had made more than 500,000 tonnes of pasta. Then he handed it over to his son and looked for a new task in his home region: the Altes Lager. The film was made in 2015, right at the start. “In today’s fast-moving world, people long for a sense of security and things they can rely on,” he says in it, “and that is what we can let people experience here at Albgut.”

Franz Tress in the 2015 film on a meadow at Albgut, with sheep under tall beech trees in front of him

What we stand for.

For years the Altes Lager lay dormant. Now, for the first time, it is in purely civilian use, and we are developing it with care: some things stay as they are, many become what they once were.

Preserving the monument

Almost all the buildings from back then still stand in their original place, and we restore them with respect for their history. Where the officers once celebrated in their mess, couples now get married, and guests sleep where the officers lodged.
Honest craftsmanship

The old buildings are now home to makers’ workshops. Pasta, soap, oil and Springerle biscuits are made here, and old crafts are turning into jobs with a future.
Peace and nature

The site is largely car-free and lies in the heart of the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve. A place to focus on what really matters.

Albgut in numbers.

1895: the Altes Lager is built under King Wilhelm II.
140: listed buildings
around 100: hectares of land, largely car-free
100: rooms in hotel buildings, apartments and the Quarters
350: guests at the biggest celebration in the Getreidespeicher

130 years in seven stages.

The Altes Lager has come through four military eras and still stands almost entirely where it was built.

1895King Wilhelm II of Württemberg has one of the first modern military training areas laid out near Münsingen.
1915New barracks are built in Münsingen, and from now on the hutted camp is called the Altes Lager, the old camp.
1946 to 1992French forces train here. Names such as Place de France are a reminder of this today.
1992 to 2005The German armed forces use the site. The training area closes at the end of 2005.
2008The former training area becomes part of the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve.
2015Franz Tress takes over the Altes Lager, founds albgut GmbH and begins the restoration.
2025The hotel buildings BT7 and BT9 and the Logement Officier are finished, and the workshops keep growing.