Templin, Germany  - Tourists in the picturesque town of Templin north of the capital Berlin often ask about Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. They want to know details such as where she went to school or had her hair done. "Others ask about the house she was born in," said Sabine Hertrich.

Residents are proud of the fact that Germany's political leader grew up in Templin, said the director of the town's tourism authority, yet Templin tends to play down the famous connection. There are no guided tours to take tourists to the stations of Merkel's life and locals are more interested in promoting the unspoilt landscape hereabouts, with its quaint towns and villages.

Templin lies in the Uckermark, a spacious but thinly-populated region carved out by the glaciers of the Ice Age. There are numerous lakes and forests in the undulating landscape along with plants and animals no longer found in busier parts of Germany. The emptiness is one of the main attractions, said Stefan Zierke who markets tourism in the Uckermark.

Angela Merkel clearly still feels an affinity with her home region and owns a summer retreat near Templin. Like her, those who journey to this corner of Brandenburg state, sometimes referred to as the "Tuscany of the North," are looking for peace and tranquility.

The Uckermark boasts a network of paths and highways for hikers, cyclists and for people who just enjoy messing about in boats. Some 60 per cent of the Templin district is a classed as a nature conservation area. The flora and fauna of the Lower Oder valley enjoy special protection along with that of the Schorfheide and the Uckermark lakelands. All three are classed as being of national rather than just regional importance.

Visitors are welcome, said National Parks director Dirk Treichel. Along with the cycle path and nature trails he recommends guided canoe tours which allow tourists to explore the romantic tributaries of the Oder and the main river itself.

Beavers are extinct in most other parts of Germany but they thrive in the Uckermark and there are excursions with expert guides to explore their natural habitat and inspect an impressive dam built by these semi-aquatic rodents.

Feats of human masonry abound in the Uckermark too, ranging from stately homes such as the former castle of the von Arnim family in Boitzenburg to village churches. Typical rural architecture is to be found in the town of Angermuende alongside tower blocks in Schwedt which have been so skilfully refurbished that they are scarcely recognisable as homes erected during the communist GDR era. There are medieval defences and examples of North German Gothic as well.

Templin is a spa town which advertises itself as the "Pearl of the Uckermark" and facilities include thermal baths and the mock-up of a Wild West town designed to transport visitors back to America between 1820 and 1900.

Close by is a church in a region renowned for its variety of religious buildings. In the remote "Little Church in the Country" at Alt Placht visitors might even come across Horst Kasner, father of Germany's Chancellor. The retired pastor occasionally conducts services and enjoys a chat with passing cyclists about the charms of his church which lacks a village to go with it. (dpa)