Ready for part II?! Saturday morning we picked up our hire car and hit the road, driving down along the beautiful southern coast of Skåne County, towards our lunch destination – Hörte Brygga. This farm shop and restaurant serves beautiful food created from the freshest local produce.
Set on a coastal inlet, the bustling cafe was packed with folk from near and far, chattering and clinking glasses. We went for the much-adored and rusticly styled picnic basket with a choice of vegetarian, vegan, fish or meat – they cater to all diets.
A salty breeze was blowing linens dry on the line and the farm shop was overflowing with fresh vegetables, local honey, vinegars, craft ales and the most delicious elderflower ice slush – the absolute tastes and feelings of summer!
With jars of wild flowers from the roadside and herbs freshly picked to be included in the day’s recipes dotted around the grounds and windowsills, this is such a dreamy place – we left here with our souls full.
We drove away reluctantly past the golden wheat filled fields that flank route 9, but excited for our next stop, Ystad.
A short detour through the camping woods past cabins and caravans, the sea glittering, wild plants waving and gulls calling out to each other.
We watched swallows gather and prepare for another great autumn adventure, swooping down onto the surface of the sea and darting back up into the pine trees growing right on the shoreline. Met dog walkers and sun bathers. Peeked into beach huts and padded across the sand. We made a mini film from our travels which I can hopefully share tomorrow or by the end of the week.
Coming from a crowded seaside town myself, where sometimes you can’t put a pin between the deck chairs, it was amazing to find so much space and in places, we had the beach all to ourselves.
Arriving in – Ystad we found a beautiful medieval town with pastel coloured houses and cobblestone streets, hollyhocks for miles and courtyard cafes that you could relax in all day. Highlights include the Franciscan monastery, playing ‘I could live in this one’ and hunting out locations from Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander TV series.
We stayed a while and watched the bees buzzing around all the blooms and 17th century buildings at Per Helsas gård, inside the courtyard, there are antique shops, artists studios and a friendly cafe serving homemade cakes, ice cream and local fresh pressed juices.
We mostly swooned over the cafe tables and chairs, plant covered buildings and summer festivities in the main square.
Coffees and cake polished off, we picked ourselves up and hopped back in the car for an evening stroll around the famous Ale Stones. Some believe that the 59 stones are a burial monument, others say that the stones served as an ancient astronomical clock, as they are positioned so that the sun goes down at the northwestern stone in summer and rises exactly at the opposite stone in winter?!
We stood on the cliffs with the mystical stones behind us and the Baltic Sea splashing up below, before turning in for the night. We saw so much, I am worried I won’t fit it all in – so I will create a little black book of must stops, sights, shops, hotels, vineyards, cafes and other places to add to your route for my last part of the guide. Part III is up tomorrow, polite warning – you might fall instantly in love!
