Sofiero Palace

After shopping, before leaving Helsingborg, we decided to go out to Sofiero for a quick afternoon visit, as the weather was stunning and I wanted to do something else than just shopping with this weekend.

It had been quite a while since we were here last, back in 2017 when we reunited with some of our Horsham friends here.

We took a walk in the gardens, which is really the main attraction. They had a special exhibition on display which we could enjoy:

The 80-meter long and five meter wide wall border is designed as a classic English Mixed Border, featuring a combination of perennials, bulbs, shrubs and annuals. It is divided into three different colour schemes, and the plantings are a mix of old favourites and new varieties of flowers.

In the past fresh produce was harvested here in the kitchen garden, but today it has a different focus. It is more for pleasure than practicality. The garderners place more emphasis on visual appeal and the vegetables grow in beautiful harmony.

The Royal Vineyard House, built around 1912 and constructed in the English style. Inside, various varieties of grapevines were planted. Over time they produced many delightful fruits for the royal family and even brought the King awards for his fine grapes.

Sofiero began as a royal summer residence in 1866, when Crown Prince Oscar and his wife Sophie moved in to a more modest version of the castle. After Oscar became King Oscar II, the castle was expanded into what we see today. 

In 1905, Sofiero was gifted to their grandson Crown Prince Gustav Adolf, and his bride Margareta of England. The couple, both passionate about gardening, were the ones transforming the grounds.

Gustaf became King Gustaf VI in 1950 and remained deeply involved in the park, planting over 5000 rhododendrons, many of which still bloom in the ravines of the castle. He spent every summer at Sofiero until his death in 1973.

That year, he bequeathed Sofiero to the city of Helsingborg. Today garderners and landscape designers work to preserve the legacy left by the crown prince couple, and visitors can enjoy the beauty of the castle park every year.

Inside the castle I really enjoyed the current exhibition called "Magnificent Majolica!", a tribute to the influential ceramic technique and trend majolica, as it appeared when it gained popularity in Sweden around the turn of the last century.

So colourful and in so many fun shapes!

It displayed majolica pieces from leading Swedish producers such as Rörstrand, Gustavsberg and Höganäsbolaget. Elegant, nature-inspired design in vivid colours.

Special visitor

One evening as I sat in the outdoor room to Zoom with Lucas, and all of a sudden I see something out of the corner of my eye - a hedgehog! So cute!
He (she?) came tottering along the lawn, went to have a quick drink out of the pond, and disappeared into the bushes on the other side of the garden.

Mum missed seeing him, but she got really excited because they haven't seen a hedgehog in their garden for over 25 year; and having hedgehogs is a good thing.
About a week later he came back again, and came up all close to the house. He didn't really see me, so I could get really nice photos of him sniffing around just outside the windows:

We decided to try and leave some food out for it, so we bought some wet cat food and left it in the garden. Bingo! 
I managed to spot him eating once, the other times the food disappeared it might of course have been him too, or one of the neighbours' cats.

Family time in Skara

Next up it was time to go up to Skara. It had been a really long time since Nathan was able to stay for more than just a few days. This time we were there for a while, and even Lucas came with us for the first few days, so that the whole family could enjoy some special time together:

Mormor needed some help with the garden. We moved lawns, shaped bushes, cleaned the fish look-out, cut back overgrown branches, vacuumed the pond and much more:

Linnea was in charge of killing of the weeds on the yard:

Morfar was supervising from the doorway:

 

Mormor bought a new trimmer, that we used a lot:

 

Of course there was time for daily fika:

Their outdoor room really is my favourite space. The best place to sit and enjoy the garden, whether is sunny or rainy:

We also went on a few excursions, to have fika. To Falköping for example, where we stopped in at Morfar's favourite, Mössebergsgården:

We went to Skarabadet, to meet up with Emma, Sixten and Elicia:

Morfar kept Linnea company while she was doing some ironing:

I had my yearly soft ice, from Biltema of course, as they have the best sprinkles - raspberry-liquorice, mmm!

 

And Linnea and I got our hair done with Beatrice:

We also went for fika in Varnhem:

So glad to have all been there for this family time. ❤️ Special memories from a special summer.