How was your weekend? Sunny in places like ours I hope! Are you just about ready for Part IIII of my Southern Sweden Travel Guide and photo journal? For our final two days, we zipped back and forth between our beautiful spa hotel Karlaby Kro, the Lund botanical garden and a couple of beauty spots along the coast.
First, we headed out to take in some fresh morning air and the breathtaking scenery and coastline at Stenshuvud National Park. This place has a wonderful feel, a little like our own country park – we felt immediately at home. A shaded woodland path has smaller tracks that open right out onto secluded sandy beaches and one section has an old lighthouse. Further on we found a whole field purple heather with butterflies flitting here and there and armies of ants trooping across the sandy paths.
Climbing higher we found ourselves passing red squirrels playing in the tall pine tree tops and after an exhilarating climb, we pushed our way out through the rowan and oak trees to the stunning viewpoints where we could see down the shimmering coast for miles in two directions.
Just along the coast we tracked down the traditional cabins with their thatched and wood beam roofs at Haväng and hung out with the shaggy livestock in neighbouring fields.
Back at our hotel for the first night we had a beautiful meal in the dining room that overlooks the garden and stream, we also peeked in on all the other beautiful communal rooms, orangerie with swimming pool and treatment rooms, the open-plan lounge and bar, boot room and mini boutique for picking up any hotel essentials or a piece of this gorgeous place to take home with you.
All the rooms are placed around a central courtyard that is lit up with candles and festoon lights in the evenings, when we arrived it was like walking into a party just for us. The courtyard centre with hedges is the perfect spot reading a book, shaded under the three huge plane trees on sunny days.
We loved the lounge, the furniture was comfy with a botanical twist, lighting soft, the bar well stocked, piles of coffee table books dotted around for perusing and even a place to pour yourself a cup of coffee to take on the road with you in the morning.
The breakfast room has a regency feel with decorated porcelain, upholstered chairs and joyful warming lighting and all the rooms have amazing photographic artworks hanging on the walls, some vintage and some contemporary.
A dash of plant happiness on the lounge stairs and below the inner garden is planted with delicate palest pink rose buds and white flowers.
All around the roads leading to Karlaby Kro are flanked with fields of crops turning golden in the August sunshine and wildflower fields with paths mown through them to secret benches to rest on. Nearby there are antique shops, farm shops independent galleries and a place that had an amazing collection of old vintage cars.
Next, we headed out on the back roads through a few picturesque villages, swooning at turquoise doors, more hollyhocks and rustic farmhouses toward Lund – we knew there was a botanical garden there and had to get to it!
We managed to get a parking spot right outside Lund University Botanical Garden and marched in at an eager pace – and just as well – the glasshouses were due to close in 15 minutes! We negotiated ourselves and extra twenty minutes with the lovely staff who watered around us and let us snap away while the place was empty.
A paradise for plant lovers with strands of hanging vines, baby quails, cacti, giant water lilies and unusual blooms, hanging and draped over every surface.
The steam was rising from the freshly watered paths and luckily there was no-one else around to hear my squeals of delight as I discovered new and amazing varieties.
After a couple of hours exploring the grounds and all the beautifully planted beds and different gardens we popped into the quiet university town (all the students were gone for the summer so it felt like we almost had the streets to ourselves) and found a great cup of coffee at Love Coffee Roasters, before hopping back in the car and heading for the coast agan.
We drove out over the bridge to Skanör and Falsterbo, past bobbing boats and painted cabins, the houses here are beautiful, pretty colours with bright trims and wild gardens.
These two above and below were the ones we decided we could just about bear to live in – aren’t they beautiful?!
After house hunting, we wandered back down one of the many sandy paths on to the beach trying to find candy coloured beach huts and shells.
Wind swept with sandy feet we climbed the dunes for one last peek then headed for the car and our last drive of the week – back to Malmö and then on to the airport.
