As the German region prepares to mark the 125th anniversary of the death of its most famous royal, ANDREW EAMES visits Ludwig II's fairytale creations

I HAD NOT gone far along Germany's Romantic Road before I passed a sign that read "milk". Nothing unusual in that - it was dairy country, after all. But then, barely 100 yards further on, another sign, this time for honey.

The two together seemed to sum up the landscape I was passing through: a sort of dreamscape, where the grass was impossibly glossy, cows looked like candidates for Bavaria's next top heifer, towns were neat and medieval, and house balconies were beribboned with geraniums.

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It felt like a fantasy and behind it was a hazy fresco of gorgeous mountains, where castles rose over feudal villages. Surely, I thought, it has to be painted on.

Except it wasn't. The mountains were the foothills of the Alps and the castles were the creations of Bavarian kings and princes. Among them, one particular king, and one particular castle, stands out.

It was due to eccentric King Ludwig II, and his fascinating life story and castle obsession, that I was driving along this road. You may not know the name Neuschwanstein, but you've certainly seen its image.

Walt Disney used the Bavarian castle as his model for Sleeping Beauty's castle.

It is easy to see why.

Neuschwanstein's silhouette is riveting from every angle.

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Perched atop a rock and emerging from forest in Schwangau, it mixes turrets, peaks, gabled windows and tumbling walls. It is the epitome of a medieval knight's abode.

However, it's an illusion.

Neuschwanstein is barely 125 years old and, within it, this "medieval knight" installed electricity and flushing loos.

It is fair to say that Ludwig had a fertile imagination.

Popularly referred to as "Mad" King Ludwig, he probably wasn't certifiably bonkers, unless you can be locked up for a love of opera and an obsession with castle building.

Neuschwanstein is his best-known castle but it was barely finished when he died, with only 16 rooms completed, decorated with frescos from Wagner operas. There are no family portraits or heirlooms; Ludwig barely stayed here.

His main base was another Bavarian schloss, Linderhof, a jewel of a palace in nearby Ettal which is dedicated to the French Sun King Louis XIV, its astounding master bedroom complete with a giant tapestried bed in a riot of Meissen porcelain.

Ludwig completed three castles, Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and Linderhof, and had plans for at least two more. However fate, or the state, intervened. Ludwig was arrested one morning at Neuschwanstein, where a psychiatrist pronounced him mentally ill. The next morning he was found drowned in a lake, the psychiatrist with him.

Next year is the 125th anniversary of his death and there's an exhibition about him (May 14 to October 16) at Herrenchiemsee New Palace, an imitation of Versailles on an island in the middle of Lake Chiemsee.

His legacy has proved to be lucrative for Bavaria, with 1.4 million annual visitors to Neuschwanstein alone.

Andrew Eames is founder of www.germanyiswunderbar.com

THE KNOWLEDGE:
Walks Worldwide (0845 301 4737/www.walksworldwide.com) offers an eight-day King Ludwig trail from £595pp (two sharing), B&B. Price includes castle visits, maps and transfers.

Ryanair (0871 246 0000/www.ryanair.com) offers return flights from Stansted to Memmingen Airport from £44.

Sixt Rent a Car (0844 248 6620/www.sixt.co.uk) offers daily car hire from £25.

German Tourist Board: 0207 317 0908/www.germany-tourism.co.uk