One would expect to find lavish gardens surrounding the stone castle-turned-hotel called Häringe Slott, near Stockholm. And one would not be disappointed:
Photography via Ingalls Photography.
Above: Located on the edge of a nature preserve a half-hour drive from Stockholm, the Häringe estate's sprawling gardens date to the 1930s. A succession of wealthy and eccentric industrialists-turned-collectors owned the property, and each put his idiosyncratic mark on it.
Above: The interior design brings the outdoors in. To see the interiors, go to An Enchanted Castle in Sweden.
Above: It was banker Torsten Kreuger who built the gardens in the early 1930s.
Above: After Kreuger went bankrupt in the 1930s, Häringe Slott was bought by Axel Wenner-Gren, a vacuum-cleaner magnate who owned Electrolux.
Above: Summer wildflowers and fruit from the property.
Above: An inveterate collector, Wenner-Gren entertained celebrity acquaintances such as Greta Garbo and Josephine Baker at his palace.
Above: Disconsolate at his failure to broker diplomatic relations between Germany and England that would have prevented World War II, Wenner-Gren and his wife left Sweden on their yacht. They returned to Häringe Slott only after the war ended.
Above: After Wenner-Gren's death in 1961, the castle's furnishings were sold off. The property's subsequent owner, Olle Hartwig, painstakingly reacquired the collection.
Above: The castle is set by the sea in the Häringe-Hammersta Nature Reserve, which has farmlands and pastures.
Above: The landscape is varied, including a pond and coastal bays.
Above: Twilight at the end of the dock.
Above: Wenner-Gren and his wife, Marguerite, are buried near the castle's East Wing.
For more Swedish garden design, see "Outdoors: Ulf Nordfjell Garden Design."
This is an update of a post originally published July 6, 2012.
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