We have rented a very nice house from a local family, in the quiet suburb of Laatzen in the southern outskirts of Hannover.  It seems that Laatzen used to be a farming village due to the number of barns, horses, chickens and remaining farmland, but as the city grew southward some of the land was turned into residential streets.

Here's our house from the street - you can only really see the slanted black slate roof - it's between the house on the left and the garage on the right. The street is made of interlocking red brick but just down the way it turns into real random cobblestones - no good for rollerblading and even difficult to ride a bike.

Here's a shot of the back of the hours from the soccer club. The field in the foreground is a local Christmas tree farm.  This was taken on a cold and rainy day, affectionately known as "Winter".  Spring has definitely sprung now, it's drier, warmer and everything is blooming.

This is the right-hand side of the backyard in full bloom in April.

More pics of the neighbourhood