Category: Castle of the month

Field trip day down to Kalmar for some shopping and touristing with our guests. 

Castle of this month is Kalmar Slott even though my hubby didn’t come along for the ride. Maybe we’ll visit the castle once more this month. 

As you can read on its website – “Kalmar Castle is a symbol for Kalmar. Its history features international politics, court intrigues, fiery sieges and fierce battles. Today the castle is a vibrant and lively place, welcoming guests from near and far. Now it’s your turn to visit. Come write the latest chapter in its 800 years of history.” 

We are keeping up our tradition of visiting one castle per month. This year our king celebrates 50 years on the throne and our country celebrates 500 years since Gustav Vasa was elected king back in 1523.

Castle of this month was Ulriksdals Slott in Bergshamra. We took a guided tour around the castle and also visited the orangery which was included in the guided tour fee. The castle was built back in 1640 and was originally called Jakobsdals Slott after the man who had it built – Jakob De la Gardie. It was later sold to queen dowager Ulrika Eleonora who gave it to her grandson, Ulrik, as a christening gift back in 1684 and it then changed name to Ulriksdals Slott.

The castle café didn’t impress though so we had our afternoon coffee at home instead after a short visit to the Delicato outlet. Lol.

Mother’s Day and my boys greeted me with a present this morning. Aaah. Loved it.

After lunch we went on a small trip to Nykvarn and visited Taxinge Castle where they have a café serving 69 different kinds of goodies. Mmm. My youngest had to study for a presentation tomorrow but my oldest came along. And we had a great visit even though the two things we had picked out before the visit wasn’t on the menu today. Bummer. But, we found something else to choose so the visit was a success anyway.

Tonight we have bbq try tip served with veggies and fries. Mmm.

Our castle of the month in April is Gripsholm. Built in 1370 and situated about 60km away from us. We worked from home so we could get on the road as soon as our workday was finished. An hour later we arrived at Gripsholms Värdshus for our over-night adventure.

After a stroll around Mariefred we walked over to the castle for a quick view. Back at the inn we were treated a four-course dinner with bubbly and the food was really good. A lovely ending of a great day.

Sunday and time to turn the clocks into summer time. No summer in sight though with snowy weather and quite chilly outside. Brrr.

We decided to visit one castle a month this year as a fun thing to do. January we went to Sturehof castle with my parents for coffee. February we went to Sundbyholms slott with my parents-in-law for a murder-mystery-dinner and sleep-over. Now it is March and today we had made reservations for brunch at Häringe slott. A lovely trip to the place where we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary but the brunch itself left some to desire. But, overall we were happy with the visit and well fed when we left.

Now I have done my yearly tax declaration and don’t have to worry about that anymore. Had to pay a lot of money.. oh well. The rest of my family are getting some money in return so that’s always something.

Back home again – we survived the murder at the dinner last night but we didn’t manage to figure out who the killer was. Bummer. It was a fun experience and people were very enthusiastic and happily participated in the roles they were given. And the food was amazing!

Now we’re back home again after the 1,5 hr drive from Sundbyholms Castle outside Eskilstuna. A lovely sunny Sunday and great day for a drive. Thank you for the very nice present – fun murder mystery dinner with overnight stay!

Now I’ve changed the winter curtains in the living room for my spring ones. I know, there will be more snow next week – but today it feels like spring is arriving and I felt it was time for the change. So nice to have it done!

Sunday already. The weekends go by way too quickly. The sun came out for a bit so we decided to take a tour and do something. We invited my parents to come along and drove over to Sturehov/Norsborg to visit the Sturehof Slottskafé for an afternoon treat. The weather wasn’t as nice when we arrived as when we left but we did take a short walk around the premises before we sat down for our coffees. So nice to get out of the house for a bit and do something else.

Tonight we are going to cheer on our juniors in the world cup ice hockey for the 18-year old women. The US just beat Finland and grabbed the bronze medal. Tonight we are in the final towards Canada. May the best team win!