Sometimes I ask people if they can guess how many family owned greenhouse nurseries there has been in Tungelsta in the last 100 years. No one has ever been able guess the correct number. Or even been close. The correct answer is 95. Today 8 of those 95 plant nurseries are still in business. This is not one of them. This is Stenvreten at Karlsro. This greenhouse skeleton is the only evidence that there once was a nursery here. As you can see it's very over-grown, and on my visit on Saturday the place was crowded with butterflies. If you look more closely on the ground you can still see the foundations from some of the other greenhouses.
On a small hillside overlooking the greenhouses, this is the house where Viran Eklöf lived. She was the woman who owned Stenvreten. I don't have any information about her. But by the looks of it the house has been abandoned for around forty years or so, but there was still some window decorations left. As I walked around the house I found a marble table in the garden. As I stood there it was easy to imagine how it must have been to sit there in the berceau, drinking coffee and chatting away an hour or two. There was a padlock on the door, so I couldn't go in, but from a window that faced the greenhouses they must have been able to see the steam train pass by on the Nynäsbanan track. Next to the house there is a small barn, and if you continue past that building the road will take you up to a modern house. I don't know the people that live there or if they own this property, but it's a good location and I'm a bit surprised that no one has bought the old nursery.
18 comments:
Hi Steffe~
Just stopping in to say that you have some gorgeous photos on your blog. I love your portraits, and especially learning about the people. Very nice blog!
Suzy
I loved this posting. You amaze me. How do you know the total number of family-owned nurseries? The photographs alone are quite moving but your short narrative about this particular nursery very much enhances the experience of viewing the photographs.
love the greenhouse, and the rest of the post as well!
Excellent photographs, but it's all so sad: partly as they are a reminder that nothing lasts forever; everything changes; eventually everything dies.
What's great about photography is it gives us the chance to capture our view of some piece of life before it becomes something else or nothing at all!
I know that because my great grandfather arrived to Tungelsta 100 years ago. He started the first ever greenhouse nursery in Tungelsta ( it is still in operation btw). And last year my mother sat down with a few other people, including my sisters husband who is a journalist and one member of the local historical association and together they started going over all the old records that they could find about the history of the greenhouse business here in Tungelsta.
Love the second photo. If it was animated, you can just imagine the crazy characters that might live inside it!
I am always amazed that places like this are abandoned for so long.
What a lovely place to meander. Your narrative and photos so well convey the passage of time and changes that ensue.
I love this kind of abandoned place, makes you wonder about the people who lived there, their trials and tribulations...
The old house looks like it is leaning in the middle and maybe would cost more to repair than it is worth. Nice photos though.
Thank you very much for visiting my Brookville Daily Photo blog and for the comment you left me there.
Brookville Daily Photo
love those old buildings. You should frame that second one!
Now it's a wonderful photo. Once it was someone's life. Nice informative post Steffe.
I know there are reasons, but it is always sad to see something abandoned. For what I read of your answer, you know a thing or two about this business.
Sad that it has been abandoned for so long! The house looks like it was once a very cozy place to live.
pity it is abandonded. Flowers are still growing though
I think you are correct Abe, it's too late to save this house.
I'm thinking about making a photo book of the abandoned places that I have visited.
Decay is always saddening but the loveliest form has got to be when nature simply reclaims a spot, once again engulfing it with green.
This is so sad. I work at a plant nursery, and it's not abandoned. The plants grow so fast, though. With weeds, it would start to look abandoned really fast! Our website is pinoaknursery.com if you're interested.
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