It’s 6pm and one hour before the first guests start arriving in the restaurant with anticipation… wondering what delicacies are on the evening menu. There is a quiet bustle in the Seehof kitchen, the last preparations for the evening are being made.

Meanwhile Elias is preparing the sour dough in a large bowl, mixing rye and wheat flour from the Lerchen Mill in Golling with lukewarm water and wheat beer. As the kitchen and restaurant come to life, the sour dough is put to rest in the cool store. 

We started vegetable growing at about the same time as baking our own bread. And to begin with, like all classic hobby gardeners, with a small 4 by 2 m herb garden.

Our friend Petzi from Salzburg came to the rescue at the time when we wanted to enlarge the garden. She knew someone who might be able to assist us. So that is how we got to know Dominik. In real life he is an osteopath, practises in Salzburg and lives with his partner and daughter in a small house with a large garden on the outskirts of the city. As a child he was always in his grandfather’s garden and has, through his ability to understand holistic systems and how to treat them correctly and practically, made his two passions his life.

Dominik has come regularly since then. Once the last snow has melted and the ground has thawed he carries out the extensive maintenance and reinforcements in the garden. And he gives the Greenies in the Seehof – the cooks and garden workers – valuable tips on what is ready for harvest and when.

With Dominik’s knowledge we have continually expanded the vegetable garden, and in the meantime the small herb garden is now an extensive 900 m² vegetable garden including a glass house and an earth cellar. Cabbages, turnips, salads, pumpkin, zucchini and so much more are now grown here. Instead of chemical sprays and pesticides we rely on nature’s forces and ancient agricultural techniques such as crop rotation.

The Greenies among us are all those who know their way around a vegetable garden, those who work in our garden or those who simply want to look at it and enjoy it. Being green is easy and beautiful.

P.S: We don’t know what Dominik’s political or voting preferences are but that is not important to us. We know and appreciate what we have with Dominik and his green fingers.

Thank you Dominik!

The wine list in the Seehof is down-to-earth, straightforward and uncompromising, ranging from ​„old school french“ to ​„funky natural“. Johannes Schellhorn is responsible for the wine list. Johannes lives in Berlin and together with Willi Schlögl, they run the ​“Freundschaft“ (Friendship) – an exceptional wine bar in Berlin Mitte. For us, ​“Freundschaft“ means more than a greeting. And so Johannes regularly finds treasures for us that will set any wine lover’s heart racing.

“Hotel is not the right word for this place. We will find a new one. ​‘Verzauberungsanstalt’ maybe?” This is how the ​“Home of Enchantment” came to be. Rendering this term in English is quite tricky, if not impossible. While the first part ​“Verzauberung” is readily understood as ​“enchantment”, ​“Anstalt” represents quite a challenge. It means, at the same time ​“institution” and, more neutrally ​“establishment” or ​“home”. Regardless of the details, the basic point is that ​“Der Seehof” goes beyond being a mere hotel offering products, services and amentities such as rooms, food, entertainment, or a spa. The ​“Seehof” is something different. Christoph Schlingensief – by the way, one of his pieces of art is hanging in the ​„Blue Salon“ – once said: „ Nothingness is often more than Everything“. At the ​“Home of Enchantment”, you won‘t find everything that you have been searching for elsewhere. You will, more often than not, find nothing. No distractions, no overzealous entertainment, no gadgets, no pressure. You will find pieces of art, literature, the opportunity for philosophical talks and discussions. Along with that, you will find, as Austrian author Thomas Bernhard once put it beautifully, ​“a fine combination of warm food and cold drinks”. A guest once asked: What can I do at your place? Susi said: Nothing! How appropriate and actually quite meaningful. American author Wallace Stevens writes: ​„Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.“ We couldn’t agree more!

See you soon at ​“Der Seehof”

Your Sepp & Susi Schellhorn and the Seehof Team

We are addicted. We are addicted to anything that makes us in any way happy. For example, contact with people is one, especially if they are lovely people who believe in what is good. In our search for quality there is also a certain potential for addiction. We are not manically chasing the philosopher’s stone. Rather, we look at a conglomerate of quality sources that eventually lead to an alpine stream that flows relentlessly towards the large waterfall called ​“quality of life”. To recap: 

We love high quality personal service. We search and find well selected products that we respect. We make no compromises in regards to time. Things take as long as they take.

We also call this addiction the desire to live together, flock together or: an addiction to culture. For us, culture is the collection of all things good and beautiful.* Often, it is neither obvious nor agreed upon in which way the Good and the Beautiful manifest. It requires discourse, understanding, listening, expressing one’s points of view. And an Austrian saying goes, ​“talking brings people together“. In this sense, conversations are part of the Seehof just like eating and drinking. Thereby complete strangers get to know and appreciate each other as well as themselves. ​„There are a lot of good people around“ glows promisingly from the facade.

You can feel this special atmosphere throughout the house. Hotel ​“Der Seehof” is for many people a place of longing and a source of inspiration, bound by the arts. Both the artworks throughout the hotel and the performances – concerts, readings, symposiums or festivals – speak their very own coded language. In a subtle way, they tell us: 

„No matter what or who you are, what you are talking about and what your addictions are: Lean back. Relax. Take it easy. The Good and the Beautiful are closer than you think.“

* Culture is also a gathering of the opposite poles of these things however not in the Seehof. The opposite poles would not drive us into addiction, they only help us to love our addiction even more and to hold on to it.

“Ich habe im Seehof im Spätsommer zwei Monate verbracht und jeden Tag, öfter auch allein, im hauseigenen Restaurant ​“Hecht” gegessen. Der Abend begann stets an der Bar mit einem Gin and Tonic und kleinen, gemeinen Vorspeisen (unter anderem Bauchspeck). Der Barkeeper trägt den bernhardesken Namen Toth. Herr Toth schenkt Vogelbeerschnaps aus großen, grünen Flaschen ein, von denen sich seit Jahren immer mehr in den Wandregalen sammeln. Wer hier ebenfalls verkehrt, ist der Schauspieler Ben Becker, der den Tod beim Jedermann in Salzburg spielt. An einer Wand im Restaurant prangt über den Gästen – sehr groß, damit es jeder lesen kann – eines jener Zitate von Bernhard, in denen es um Stumpfsinn, Selbstmord und Salzburg geht. Und um den Tod.

Das Hecht ist ein modernes und zugleich bodenständiges Lokal. Gegessen habe ich dort immer gern. Dabei kann, wer im Wissen anreist, dort einige Zeit lang essen zu müssen, es zunächst mit der Angst zu tun bekommen. Denn manche Gerichte klingen durchaus brutal. Kann man täglich Nieren im Fettrand essen, paniertes Hirn, Kalbsrahmbeuschel? Das Restaurant hält stets eine eigene Innereienkarte bereit, und Schellhorn, der haubendekorierte Koch, sagt dazu: für meine gichtkranken Gäste. Eine Zeit lang habe ich dort Stierhoden gegessen, aber die hat die Familie Schellhorn im Privaten zubereitet.

In Wahrheit bietet die tägliche Speisekarte das Gegenteil von rustikal-schwerer Kost. Das Fleisch stammt stets aus der Nähe, der Hecht kommt aus dem Moorsee, der direkt vor dem Gasthof liegt und dem Restaurant seinen Namen gegeben hat. Manchmal habe ich mit den Schellhorns zusammen gegessen, oft aber brachte mich, wenn ich allein war, der angenehme und immer abwechslungsreiche Rhythmus der Speisenabfolge durch den Abend. Ich habe mal vorgefragt, was es dieses Jahr an Silvester gibt. Schellhorn wird unter anderem eisgefischte Krebse aus dem Moorsee zubereiten, Saiblinge auf eigenem Kaviar, Filets vom Pinzgauer Rind. Zwischen den Jahren versammelt sich um das Wirtspaar eine Runde hartgesottener Feiertagsflüchtlinge zu einem, wie es heißt, ​“ganz fürchterlichen Besäufnis”. ​“Ideal”, würde Bernhard sagen.

Es gibt im Hotel übrigens auch eine Bernhard-Suite. Dort schaut ein Bernhardporträt den Gast prüfend an. Der Gast kann alternativ auf den Moorsee schauen. Morgens dampft er mysteriös. Im Goldegger Moorsee sollen noch drei Leichen liegen. Wer in aller Frühe aufsteht, sieht ein Ruderboot auf dem See. Das ist meist der Wirt. Der fischt allerdings nur die Hechte heraus.”

Schriftsteller Andreas Maier, erster Stipendiat im Sommer 2011

A pleasant, homely scent of fresh flowers, mixed with the pleasurable aroma of roasting coffee is in the air. There is a traditional element to this hotel that is run by the Schellhorn family for over a century. Yet, the vibe is distinctly young: enchanting, well designed rooms, expressive colours, art on the walls, a meticulous attention to detail. Honestly: who doesn’t want to be here?

The hotel, as we see it, is a collective of guests and hosts. Essential to this is a team with heart and soul, pep and swing, with humour and charm. We make sure that hotel ​“Der Seehof” is an experience to be had. We like to create wellbeing for everyone who comes and stays here. We inspire, enrich and challenge ourselves as well as each other. We are not suave but rather like our rough edges. And our guests like them too.

Our community is open-minded and sincere. Susi and Sepp Schellhorn are the initiators and create the space where like-minded people come together. New talent enriches the house with their know-how and, especially, their personalities. They are all part of the atmosphere and the exceptional spirit in the house, guided by a mindset that encourages us to forget, overcome and disregard our limitations and leave them behind. A fantasy, that continues to grow and evolve and lives in the awareness and pride of what we do.

We are the Seehof Team. 

We can do it!

Some of our team thought that this text should be left out completely. They would prefer to shop immediately! Sometimes though, an explanation of what you can expect from a shop is necessary. We have selected products from friends, labels that we think are cool and, of course, homemade products in our online store. One could say it is a well stocked record store minus the records – but lots of wonderful things instead.