History

The family-run Hotel Garni "Zur Alten Post" in Lembruch and the Eickhoff/Jungblut family have a long history.

Master blacksmith Carl Jungblut had a forge at the intersection of Große Strasse and Wagenfelder Strasse in Lembruch. His son Friedrich Jungblut (born 1862, died 1935) did not want to become a blacksmith but a businessman. Father and son had opposite ideas. A traveling merchant noticed the quarrel and offered to take Friedrich Jungblut to Barnstorf for his apprenticeship. Friedrich Jungblut completed his apprenticeship there from 1877.

After the apprenticeship, Friedrich Jungblut went to the island of Norderney every spring. There he worked as one of the first waiters in the well-known poison booth. “In the spring I went with the ebb and in the fall I came back with the tide in my pocket. The guests came with the tide and went with the ebb!” he used to tell his children and grandchildren. After a few years he had earned enough to buy an old farmhouse in Lembruch on the main street. In 1887 the current house was added to the old farmhouse.

In 1888 the agricultural building and commercial building was built by Friedrich Jungblut. Pigs, cows, chickens and horses were kept and the areas around the house were cultivated.

A grocery and household goods store with a bakery was also operated in addition to agriculture. In 1888, the imperial post office in Lembruch opened in our house, since horse stables already existed, and it was also run by Friedrich Jungblut.

In 1907 the old farmhouse was demolished and a new large barn with stables and hayloft was built.

The bakery closed in 1918.

After Friedrich Jungblut, his son Heinrich Jungblut (born 1896, died 1978) took over the property and business. Due to the war years, the shop was leased from 1939 to 1954.

The small farm was run until 1954. Daughter Gisela Jungblut, a trained retail clerk, married retail clerk Herbert Eickhoff from Marl on April 15, 1955 after conversion and expansion - the post office was now also used as business premises. Both ran the business from then on. The post office closed in 1964.

When space became available in 1966, Gisela Eickhoff came up with the idea of offering guest rooms with a bathroom in the hallway. After all, many guests came to the store and asked where they could spend the night. The first 2 rooms were created and the guests had breakfast in the "parlour" of the house, so to speak with family connection. After the response was more than positive, the attic was expanded with four rooms around 1970, but again with a bathroom in the hallway.

The next expansion followed in 1977: the old hayloft was expanded with another twelve rooms. However, they all got their own bathroom with shower and toilet. And the previous rooms without private bathrooms were immediately adapted to this new standard.

The first real breakfast room was built in 1978 with 30 seats in the former warehouse of the grocery and household goods store, which was then abandoned around 1983. The premises have been converted into a leisure and surf shop and rented out.

In 1989 the clinker extension with three large holiday apartments was added.

In 1995 the eldest son (business economist Hartmut Eickhoff) died early of cancer. He was actually supposed to take over the pension business.

In 1997, after his confirmation, Steffen Eickhoff (son of Hartmut Eickhoff) promised his grandparents that he would later take over the business. Grandfather Herbert Eickhoff and grandson Steffen were always a strong team anyway.

In 2005 the surf shop was given up and Herbert Eickhoff and grandson Steffen built today's cozy breakfast room. Another holiday apartment was built in parallel in the old breakfast room.

Herbert Eickhoff died unexpectedly in 2007 and Steffen Eickhoff, as a grandson, took over the grandparents' business from then on. Already in the first winter of 2007/2008, 4 rooms were renovated.

In 2008/2009, a former rental apartment was converted into a variable-use comfort apartment/or two hotel rooms converted.

In the winter of 2009/2010, two of the three holiday apartments in the brick extension from 1989 were converted into five hotel rooms.

In winter 2010/2011, the 12 rooms built in 1977 in the hayloft were completely renovated and equipped with new bathrooms.

Due to the consistently good occupancy rate even in winter, the heating system, which was too weak, had to be urgently replaced in spring 2012. The old, inefficient oil heating system had to give way to a modern gas-powered combined heat and power plant and gas heating system. Enormous progress in the energy renovation of the hotel, in reducing CO2 emissions and lowering the enormous energy costs.

In winter 2012/2013, the attic of the main house, including the 5 existing rooms, was demolished and replaced by a new building with 6 rooms with a high ecological insulation standard and without sloping ceilings/skylights. At the same time, a new fireproof stairwell was created and extensive investments were made in fire protection.

In the spring of 2014, the energetic refurbishment was continued with the installation of a first photovoltaic system.

In autumn 2015, the old kitchen was completely renovated, a new kitchen with a beer garden bar was built and the beer garden was extensively embellished.

In 2015/2016, the 3 rooms on the top floor (hayloft extension 1977) were demolished and replaced by a new building with a high ecological insulation standard and without sloping ceilings/skylights.

In 2016, the Hotel Garni was suggested by guests for the star classification. The DEHOGA approached the Eickhoff family, who immediately submitted the application for classification with 3 stars as a Hotel Garni and were delighted to receive the award.

In winter 2016/2017, the breakfast room was completely refurbished and then the small holiday apartment in the old breakfast room was completely converted and modernized into the first wheelchair-friendly holiday apartment in Lembruch.

In April 2017, Steffen Eickhoff married his wife Romina Eickhoff (née Burmester) and their daughter Charlotte was born in August.

In 2018, the Hotel Garni was awarded the gold medal in the DEHOGA environmental check. 6 companies in Lower Saxony bear this award. It stands for special energy efficiency with low CO2 emissions, special sustainability, lots of regional food, little waste, little laundry and ecological thinking.

In winter 2019/2020, the energetic improvement was continued by installing another photovoltaic system and a power storage unit. The aim is to produce 99.5% of the required heat energy and electricity on site using environmentally friendly renewable energies and to reduce CO2 emissions to a minimum.

In 2021/2022, from October 1st to May 1st, the entire extension from 1989 was demolished and replaced by a new building. The new building includes 6 large comfortable hotel rooms (4 with balcony) and a second fireproof safety staircase. The new building is again built ecologically in timber frame construction and the insulation values ​​of the outer skin are far better than required.

In winter 2023, a third photovoltaic system was installed on the new building in order to produce even more electricity ourselves.