Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (1888–1960) was one of Australia’s most beloved illustrators, best known for her enchanting depictions of fairies, elves, and the natural world. Her work helped shape early 20th-century Australian children’s literature and remains admired for its delicate beauty and imaginative charm.
Born Ida Sherbourne Rentoul in Melbourne, she grew up in a creative and literary family. Her father, the Reverend Dr. John Laurence Rentoul, was a noted Presbyterian minister and academic, and her sister, Annie R. Rentoul, became a writer. The two sisters often collaborated; Annie writing the stories and Ida illustrating them. From a young age, Ida showed remarkable artistic talent; her first published illustration appeared when she was just 15.
Outhwaite rose to prominence during the Edwardian and interwar periods, when fairy art and children’s fantasy were enjoying great popularity. Her illustrations often featured ethereal fairy figures nestled in distinctly Australian landscapes; among gum trees, native flowers, and animals like koalas and kookaburras. This blend of European fairy imagery with Australian flora and fauna gave her work a unique identity.
Some of her most famous works include “Elves and Fairies” (1916), “The Enchanted Forest” (1921), “Fairyland” (1926), and “The Little Green Road to Fairyland” (1922). These books combined her luminous pen-and-ink drawings and watercolours with stories by her sister Annie or other collaborators. Elves and Fairies in particular was a landmark; one of the first large-format art books printed in Australia, and an expensive luxury edition at the time, now highly collectible.
In 1909, Ida married Arthur Grenbry Outhwaite, who became both her supporter and a frequent collaborator; some works were credited jointly to “Grenbry and Ida Rentoul Outhwaite.” Together they had four children, who occasionally served as models for her fairy illustrations.
Her art is characterised by fine, detailed linework and soft washes of colour, creating an otherworldly but tender atmosphere. Critics have often noted her ability to balance whimsy with a sense of quiet realism; her fairies seem to belong to the bush as naturally as any native bird. This helped root fantasy art in an Australian sensibility and made her a pioneer of what might be called Australian fairy imagery.
By the late 1930s, her style fell somewhat out of fashion as modernism took hold, and she produced fewer works after World War II. However, her illustrations remain iconic in Australian visual culture. Today, original Outhwaite books and prints are treasured collectors’ items, and her influence can still be seen in Australian fantasy illustration.
Hidden deep in the Brohltal valley, where steep cliffs of volcanic tuff and moss-covered stones bear the marks of ancient eruptions, lie the quiet remains of Kloster Antoniusstein, also known as the Tönisstein Monastery. Today, it is only a ruin; a hauntingly beautiful echo of a time when monks prayed in its vaulted halls and pilgrims climbed through the valley to seek healing, solace, and perhaps a miracle.
According to legend, the story began around the year 1388. A shepherd from the nearby village of Kell stumbled upon a strange vision: a burning thorn bush in which a Pietà appeared; the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Christ; while St. Antonius knelt in prayer before her. It was said that this miraculous sign marked the place as holy, and soon a small chapel was built there, dedicated to Mary, St. Antonius, and St. Wendelin. When it was consecrated in 1390, the valley began to draw pilgrims who came to see the sacred image and to pray in the solitude of the forested gorge.
By 1465, the site had gained enough renown that the Carmelite Order received permission to establish a full monastery on the spot. Over the following decades, the monks constructed a church and convent buildings out of the volcanic stone that surrounded them. They led a contemplative life, but they were also practical men, drawing water from nearby springs such as the Helpert source, which was already known by 1501 for its supposed healing powers. Centuries later, the same mineral waters would help turn the surrounding area into a spa region under the Elector-Archbishops of Cologne, linking faith and health in the fertile imagination of the Eifel landscape.
For several hundred years the monastery flourished quietly. Pilgrims came and went, the monks tended their gardens, and the sound of the nearby Tönissteiner Bach mingled with the chanting of psalms. But in 1802, everything changed. During the period of secularization that swept across German lands in the wake of Napoleon’s campaigns, Kloster Antoniusstein was dissolved. The Carmelites were forced to leave, and the property passed into state hands. The Prussian authorities later sold it in 1819, and without its caretakers the monastery began to decay. Stones were taken to build other structures, and the site slowly turned from sacred ground into a picturesque ruin.
What remains today are fragments of that once-spiritual world; walls up to eight meters high, traces of vaulted cellars, and outlines of the old cloisters. The ruins stand quietly amid trees and ferns, with the murmur of the Tönissteiner Bach flowing past, the same stream that once powered the monastery’s mill below. If you wander here, you can still sense the shape of the old church and imagine the lives that unfolded within its walls: the rituals of prayer, the echo of bells, the rhythm of devotion against the backdrop of volcanic cliffs.
The famous Pietà that inspired the founding of the monastery no longer rests in the gorge. It now resides safely in the parish church of St. Lubentius in Kell, a few kilometers away, still drawing quiet reverence from those who know its story. Visitors today reach the site by forest trails that weave through the Brohltal Geopark; paths that not only lead to the ruins but also reveal the geological wonders of the Eifel, where layers of ash and pumice tell the story of fire beneath the earth.
To visit Kloster Antoniusstein is to step into a landscape where nature and history intertwine. The forest reclaims the stones, ivy drapes over crumbling arches, and the sound of water echoes through the gorge just as it did six hundred years ago. It is a place of stillness, where the spiritual past feels close enough to touch, and where the silence of the monastery lives on in the whisper of the wind and the flow of the stream.
English translation:
Board 1 – Route U “Lower Brohl Valley” – Point U6: Tuff Wall and Cascades
National Geopark VULCANIC LAND EIFFEL Brohltal Volcanic Park / Laacher See
Because of deposits from glowing clouds (pyroclastic flows) during the Laacher See eruptions, this valley was also filled up.
Over thousands of years, the stream has cut its way back into the deposits. When observing the tuff wall – also quarried in this area – one can recognize a repeated alternation between fine ash and coarse pumice layers.
The deposits occurred in surges, so that the flow was made up of multiple flow units.
In the nearby “Wolfsschlucht” (Wolf’s Gorge), one can observe in just a few hundred meters how smaller stream forms emerge from these flows, during the cutting process of the stream.
In this side valley, the stream cuts through ash streams from the Laacher See eruption down to the underlying bedrock.
Photo captions:
View of alternating layers of material flows
Light pumice pieces in the upper area of a flow unit
Cascades of the Tönisstein stream
The valley continues downward over several small waterfalls, merging from several smaller sections where the stream has little gradient.
At a small slope, streams and creeks often form many winding bends, called meanders. Such formations can also be seen here.
In some areas, the valley forms a stepped structure, where the stream flows in cascades (from the Latin cascata = fall). At the foot of these cascades, the water often carves deeper into the soft ash layers and creates hollows and small caves.
The water flow accelerates locally in small rapids due to the unevenness of the bed. When such rapids occur in a larger river, they are called cataracts (from Greek katarrhous = waterfall). Famous, much larger examples are the Cataracts of the Nile in Egypt and Sudan.
Information and guidebook
for the Geo-Routes are available at:
Tourist Information Brohltal
Kapellenstraße 12, 56651 Niederzissen
Tel. 0 26 36 / 1 94 33 www.brohltal.de · tourist@brohltal.de
English translation:
Board 2 – Route U “Lower Brohl Valley” – Point U7: Waterfall at the End of Wolf’s Gorge
“Stream Fall” at the End of the Quarry Area
The small Tönisstein stream, coming from higher up, had difficulty cutting its way through the tuff into the water-rich Brohlbach, into which it flows.
Over its course, it has created three steps, between which there are relatively flat sections. The uppermost of these steps forms a waterfall, which the stream “overcomes”.
This wild-romantic waterfall step has gradually receded upstream over time, as can also be observed with larger waterfalls.
A famous example of such a retreating waterfall are the Niagara Falls in North America.
Photo captions:
Cascades
Cross-section through the ash flow in the Wolf’s Gorge
Above the waterfall step, the Tönisstein stream flows in a wide, flat bed of stream gravel about 2–3 m thick, which in turn lies on the surface of the ash flow.
Cross-section through the Wolf’s Gorge
This diagram shows how the Tönisstein stream has cut its way through the relatively soft tuff down to the Devonian bedrock.
The basaltic blocks that hikers can find along the stream-bed come from the reinforcement of the road embankment.
The Lukasmarkt in Mayen, Germany, is one of the most beloved and historic folk festivals in the Rhineland-Palatinate region. Every October, the usually quiet town of Mayen transforms into a bustling fairground filled with lights, music, and the scent of roasted almonds. The festival runs for nine days, taking over the city centre; particularly the Marktplatz, Bäckerstraße, Burgfrieden, and Boemundring; and in 2025 it will take place from the 11th to the 19th of October. With a tradition that dates back to 1405, when Archbishop Werner von Falkenstein moved three annual markets to coincide with the feast day of St. Luke the Evangelist, the event has deep roots in the town’s history. What began as a market for goods and livestock has evolved into a vibrant combination of funfair, marketplace, and cultural celebration, drawing between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors every year.
During the festival, Mayen becomes a lively maze of rides, food stands, and stalls selling everything from handmade crafts to household items. The fair features a “Krammarkt,” a daily goods market that stretches through the streets for all nine days. On Tuesday and Wednesday, these two main “market days,” the event reaches its peak, with over 200 traders setting up throughout the pedestrian zone. The fair also preserves its agricultural traditions with two important events: the horse market on Tuesday, held at the Viehmarktplatz on Polcher Straße, and the sheep market on Wednesday, the only one of its kind in all of Rhineland-Palatinate. Thursday is dedicated to families, offering reduced prices on many rides and attractions, while the final Sunday ends in a spectacular fireworks display launched near the historic Genovevaburg castle.
Visiting the Lukasmarkt is as much about atmosphere as it is about activities. The inner city’s medieval layout creates a charming setting for the festival’s modern amusements. Walking through the cobblestone streets, visitors encounter carousels, food stands selling bratwurst and sweets, and vendors calling out over the hum of laughter and music. Many of the rides and stands now accept card or mobile payments, but cash is still widely used. Families will find plenty to enjoy, especially on Family Day, though it’s worth remembering that the crowds and noise can be intense. Dogs are allowed but generally discouraged for that reason.
The city provides well-organized logistics for the influx of visitors. Special “Park & Ride” services operate on the Sundays and during the Tuesday horse market, with parking lots connected to the centre by shuttle buses. Regular parking areas such as the Viehmarktplatz are available on other days, though some are restricted during major market events. Visitors are encouraged to follow the city’s signage and use public transport when possible, as several streets are closed to cars during setup and operation of the fair.
Beyond the rides and markets, the Lukasmarkt captures the spirit of a living tradition. It is at once a modern Volksfest, complete with thrill rides and bright lights, and a centuries-old meeting place rooted in Mayen’s history as a market town. Locals see it as the highlight of the year; a time when the city comes alive with music, laughter, and community pride. For tourists, it offers a rare chance to experience an authentic German fair that still retains its historic soul. Whether you visit to shop, to enjoy the food and music, or simply to be part of the crowd under the autumn lights, the Lukasmarkt remains a celebration of both past and present, ending each year with fireworks over the castle that has watched over Mayen for centuries.
The Backfischbrötchen (battered fillet of fried fish in a bun), bier and pommes is highly recommended!
