The Fog

Horror movie weather when I snapped this photo at Hammar two days ago. Don't go in there...

Hammar in Winter

The Hammar estate at Allévägen in Tungelsta. Built by Frans Gustaf Upmark two hundred years ago. The same family still owns it today. I will often see and chat with the current owner, Charlotte when she's out on her daily promenade.

A Winter Morning

This was how the old Hammar estate in Tungelsta looked on Saturday morning. A real Winter morning. Cold, snowy, a blue sky and strong sunshine.

Stained Glass Window

You would never be able to guess where I saw this stained glass window, so I might as well tell you and show you the building itself. This is an old two-storey farm building that for many years belonged to the Hammar Estate in Tungelsta. It dates back to around 1850. Back then it was connected to another similar warehouse via a wooden bridge. When the other warehouse was demolished the then tenant replaced the opening with this beautiful stained glass window. That was many years ago. The property changed owners a couple of years ago. The current owner was hoping to fix up the old building and perhaps even turn it into an apartment. Unfortunately if he does that he can't get any funding from the EU, as they only give that sort of help if you restore the building to how it originally looked. And I guess that means without this beautiful window.

Standing Skeleton

So I was out on a photo promenade in the snow. For once the sun was shining from a blueish sky, and I decided to check out an old warehouse that once belonged to the Hammar estate. I spotted the owner (he had seen a previous photo I had taken of the building so he knew who I was), and we started talking. I will show you the building and an interior view in a day or two, but I figured you needed to see this guy first. he was standing in a corner doing nothing at all.

Gated Entrance

Earlier this year I took part in a photo project called 5 Days. The idea was to shoot five photos of the same scene on five different days. I decided to shoot the tree lined avenue at the 200-year old Hammar estate in Tungelsta. One reason was that they were redoing the entrance by adding a gate as well as laying asphalt on the driveway (although they don't use it). That took some time to finish, but this is how it looks today.

Winter Vs. Summer

As you probably know I do enjoy going back for another look at different places. It was only in December of last year that I showed you a Different Seasons diptych from the Hammar estate. Back then it was a combination of an unusual winter photo and a misty autumn shot. This time around it is real winter vs. early summer. I shot the snow photo just a few days ago and the green side in May of 2009. Probably a good thing that it wasn't a flag day, that would have made it rather tricky to line up the two photos.

A Sudden Change in the Weather

It has snowed a few times in the last couple of days. At the moment a very thin layer of the white stuff is covering the ground. This is a cottage at the Hammar Estate.

Winter Vs. Autumn

To the left is how the tree lined avenue at the 200-year old Hammar estate looks like today. The unused driveway is being fixed. It is supposed to be winter now, but it sure doesn't look like it. To the right how it looked on a misty November day back in 2009. I shot the 2009 photo with the Canon 300d, and the winter photo with the Canon 550d.

A Former Museum

This little cottage at the Hammar estate in Tungelsta was built by a great-great grandparent to the current owner Charlotte. He was a man that sailed with one of the Swedish East India Company ships to India and China nearly two hundred years ago. On the first two trips he brought home many items, and to have a place to store and show them he decided to build this little museum. Sadly he died during his third expedition to Asia. After posting this photo at flickr one of my Swedish readers in the US told me that a relative of his was the captain on one of these ships. Small world.

Professionals at Work

I have never used a chainsaw in my life. There's professionals you can hire for that sort of thing. Like the ones here at Hammar in Tungelsta. These guys are arborists, or tree surgeons, if you like that title better. There's lot of construction work going on around Hammar at the moment with the new rail-track, the bridge over the commuter station, and the work on the road that passes by the estate. I'm guessing that the Swedish Transport Administration have hired these guys to fix Charlotte's 200 year old tree lined avenue. She had to sell some of her property and I think the STA have promised her that they would help her with the impressive entrance.

Winter Cottage

Looks very much like the photo I took here back in February. One of two identical cottages at the Hammar estate in Tungelsta.

A little red cottage

On my photo walk yesterday I met the owner of Hammar. Her name is Charlotte. Her family has lived at the estate since 1816 when the Upmark family bought three farms, Tuna, Tunatorp and Krigslida and the two villages, Mulsta and Välsta in Tungelsta. There's a beautiful 100 meter long tree line avenue leading up to the estate, you can see it on a few of my earlier photos from Hammar. When we met yesterday we talked a bit about the coming changes in the area, before I decided to take a few new shots of some of the buildings here. This is one of two identical "Enkelstugor" (small wooden cottage). To the right you can see Charlotte's car. It's been parked there since the first snow fall back in mid-December.

The (former) Apprentice

Meet Paul. He was out on a promenade with his family when I noticed him with the camera. I asked him if he was going to take a photo of Hammar (in the background), and we started to talk as the rest of his family continued down the road. Paul works at the Swedish Rail Administration. He has published a book about the history of the Nynäsbanan railway line, with another book on the same subject coming later in the year. He said he was looking for train photos and I pointed him in the direction of some of my photos. Paul is a keen photographer and has been since he was very young and had an apprenticeship with a photographer that for many years wanted him to turn pro. Today he shoots mainly digital and has several cameras, but back in the analogue days he used a few Pentax cameras. His latest camera is a Hasselblad 500. He is interested in local history and is a member of the local historical association as is his friend Sune Nilsson ( a flickr contact of mine).Another member of that association is the photographer Kjell Schönbeck that I photographed a while back. I mentioned that I had just been up to the old tree for a photo and he recognised the tree when I showed him my photo ( I was using my cheap point and shoot). We had time to talk about a few other things as we tried to find Paul's family that had disappeared somewhere in Tungelsta!

The Old Avenue

One of two tree lined avenues at Lida in Tungelsta. Two hundred years ago Frans G Upmark bought the land here and built the Hammar residence. He also planted the trees for the two avenues. Today I often meet the current owner, Charlotte (an ancestor to Frans), when she comes walking down the road. The avenue, made of Populus trees is seven hundred meters long and ends near the residence. If you read this blog regularly (and who doesn't?), you will have seen the other avenue a few times by now.

Winter Returns

For a few days last week I was out looking for signs of spring. That search has now been put on hold as winter decided to return. This view might look familiar to you. It's the tree lined avenue leading up to the Hammar Estate at Allevägen in Tungelsta. I showed you a B&W version of this back in December. Hammar is owned by Charlotte, who I didn't see around yesterday. The two red cottages right and left are known as Enkelstugor.

Hammar in B&W

The Hammar estate in Tungelsta seen in black and white. Took the shot on my photo promenade today. A more colorful winter photo from Hammar can be seen here. And here is a spring version.

Hammar Cottage

One of two identical "Enkelstugor" (small wooden cottage), at the Hammar estate along Allévägen in Tungelsta. The estate dates back to 1816 when the Upmark family bought three farms, Tuna, Tunatorp and Krigslida and the two villages Mulsta and Välsta. There's a beautiful 100 meter long tree line avenue leading up to the estate, you can see it on a few of my photos. A winter version and a spring version. The owner's favorite photo is one from two years ago where her late husband is shovelling snow from a roof! If you are interested they also have a rune stone behind the estate. The same cottage from another angle. Bigger photo.

Hammar Runestone

This rune stone can be seen behind the Hammar Estate in Tungelsta. It was found at Vreta and moved to this location many years ago. Kenny has a photo of this stone and he has also translated the inscription to modern Swedish and then Ylva translated that to English. And that reads something like this: Þórir and Auðsteinn ... ... Ônundr raised the stone ... ... his. RAÄ info. I took this photo this afternoon after I had a long talk to Charlotte who lives at Hammar.

Winter Avenue

This is the tree lined avenue leading up to Hammar in Tungelsta. The estate is 200 years old. It was built by Frans G Upmark back in 1816. The family still lives there today. Wanna see the summer version? Here it is. Behind the house there's a fragment of a runestone. Kenny Lex has a photo.