Stegsholms Gård

Visited the Gålö peninsula a few days ago. Gålö is today a nature reserve, in the safe hands of the Archipelago Foundation. It attracts a lot of people. The peninsula sees around one million visitors per year, but it never really feels crowded. Made a couple of stops during this visit. One was to the Stegsholm Farm where we sat down at the cafe for a pancake lunch before taking the 2,3 long nature walk. Need I say that everything served at the cafe comes from the farm bakery, and that most ingredients comes from the dairy farm. This is the view back to the farm from where the promenade in the lush oak landscape starts.

Oak Landscape

Four photos from my walk at Stegsholm on the Gålö peninsula. It will take you through a wonderful landscape with a lot of majestic oaks, cow pastures and cliffs down by the water. It's a short walk, around 2.5 km. The weather was perfect, around 24C. I met no more that five people, all in all a great experience.

Stegsholm

I visited the picturesque dairy farm Stegsholm yesterday. The farm dates back to the middle ages. It has a very popular cafe with a lot of home baked pastries. Ladder is Stege in Swedish. The Stegsholm farm got it's name from ladders that were used to cross the strait between the Gålö peninsula and the mainland a few hundred years ago. The whole peninsula is a fantastic nature reserve, very popular and open for everyone. On this visit I had a look at all of the farm houses before heading out on the 2.5 km nature walk in the Summer landscape. Photos from that walk tomorrow.

The Dairy Farm

I visited the only remaining farm on the Gålö peninsula a few days ago. It is called Stegsholm. The farm goes back more than 300 years. It's a leasehold estate and for many years the Borg family have been living and working here. Today they run a dairy farm and they have their own bakery, and a popular cafe. The landscape out here is fantastic and the peninsula was declared a nature reserve a couple of years ago. Starting from the cafe you can choose to take the three kilometre long nature path. It will take you through a forest with majestic old oak trees and down to the bay. Along the way you will walk through the cow pastures. A few times every year there are guided tours if you want to learn more about the local fauna. On a visit to Gålö last summer I met the farmer Johan Borg, and if you are interested, here is that story.

Meet the Dentist

I took a walk around Stegsholm at the Gålö peninsula a few days ago. Half way round the 2,3 km path I met a photographer who I started to talk to. His name is Hans. A dentist from Saltsjöbaden. He shoots film. Whether in Rome or on the Swedish island Gotland or when trekking at Høvringen in Norway. We talked about photography and I then made a joke relating to an ad campaign which reminded Hans about a few (non-paying) photo gigs. A few years ago the coffee company Gevalia ran a lengthy and price-winning ad campaign called "when you have unexpected visitors" which was made by Ivar Klaesson, a friend of Hans. They were out scouting for locations and photo opportunities together. Another time he took a ferry to Åland and shot some photos on the boat that ended up in a campaign for the ferry company. Recently he visited a candy factory with a journalist friend, Cristina Aasa who was writing an article and Hans helped out by taking the the photos, but then I used a digital camera he told me. And he always gets a good deal on anything printed as one of hos patients are Håkan Holmberg, CEO of Crimson Photolab. Sounds like a friend I would like to have!

This is my 59th photo for the 100 Strangers project. You can see the rest of my strangers in my Set

The Stegsholm's Farm

This is Stegsholm. Today a a farm and a treatment centre for boys with addiction problems. Back in 1860 Prince Carl, who later became King Charles XV, bought Stegsholm and turned it into an education centre for poor and orphaned kids. An even earlier owner, Wilhelm Hellgren was responsible for turning the then island to the peninsula it is today. The whole peninsula is today a nature reserve and I took a walk around the footpath which starts here at a café close to the farm buildings.