Road Trip 2025 (16) - Torpa Stenhus

Wednesday, 13 August - Part 3
Torpa Stenhus 

Our last stop on the trip was an old castle between Ulricehamn and Borås - Torpa Stenhus (literally: stone house). We've been there together before, and I've also visited it a few times with other friends. 

 I'm starting off with a photo of the castle taken back in August 2022, because this time I failed to get a front view of the castle itself. The weather and time of year was pretty much the same then as now, though!

View of the lake from where we parked the car. (The castle is up the hill to the left.)

 

The castle is only shown by guided tours, and just at the same time as we arrived, so did a bus full of tourists with a pre-booked tour... So we did not go inside on this occasion. (Besides, I seem to recall from the last time that they don't allow photography indoors anyway...)

History (From the castle's website)

The first part of castle was built around 1470. The wealthy bourgeoisie of the time asserted economic interest in the trade along the prosperous shores of River Ätran and River Viskan. The end of the 15th century were unsettled times. Not only came the threats from Danish troops; local peasants revolted frequently. The first building was as much a defense and trade construction as a permanent residence for the Castle owner and his family.

During the 16th century the building was reconstructed and an extension was added. Initially, the stairway tower was constructed and later the southern part of the Castle was added. The extension was completed around 1550 and served as a dignified enough residence for [King] Gustav Vasa’s brother-in-law and father-in-law, Gustav Olofsson Stenbock. With its unique architecture and beautiful interiors Torpa Stenhus counts among the best preserved medieval castles of the nation. - The castle has never been sold but has been passed on through the generations by inheritance.

In the cellar of the castle, they have a shop selling local arts and crafts. I snapped a few photos of things on display there:

 

(This one is for Ginny...)

This is a big heavy "life size" painted stone cat, which managed to bewitch my brother to bring it home with him. No doubt the heaviest souvenir he ever bought! (At least on our travels together...)

 For my own part, I settled for a much smaller painted stone item: A fridge magnet...

Before leaving, we also had something to eat and drink at the café in the barn.

▲ A couple of other buildings on the premises. ▼

 

 

Finishing off with different view of the castle from back in 2012 (when we were there on a cloudy day).

 

 Linking to Weekend/Street Reflections #242

 

 

 

Road Trip 2025 (6) - Bjärka-Säby Chateau

Monday 11 August - Part 2
Bjärka-Säby

After our visit to Sturefors Castle (previous post), we also happened to pass (or rather, stop at!) another impressive castle or palace: Bjärka Säby. In the English Wikipedia article they've chosen to call it Bjärka-Säby Château. 

Actually there are two castles/chateaus at Bjärka-Säby; referred to as the old one and the new one. It was "the new one", from 1790, that happened to "pop up" along our way, and seemed worth while (and convenient) to take a closer look at.

Since 1980, Nya Slottet Bjärka-Säby has been owned by the Swedish Pentecostal movement's congregation in Linköping. I've heard about in various contexts, as it is used as an ecumenical centre for Christian conferences and retreats etc. In the summer they also seem to have a café and even some guided tours of the place; but that season seemed to be over when we happened to stop by. The only part open when we were there was a rest-room (WC) in the basement round the back - but as that was what we really were most in need of just then, we were thankful for that!! ;)

After a short walk around the outside of that castle, we drove on through the countryside towards Åtvidaberg hoping to find somewhere nice there to have lunch... 

... but I'll save that for the next post! 

  

 

 

Road Trip 2025 (5) - Sturefors Castle

Monday, 11 August - Part 1
Sturefors Castle (near Linköping)

From Linköping we drove south-east to Västervik on the east coast (see map at the bottom of the page); but we also made a couple of stops on the way down there. 

Not far from Linköping, and just a minor detour from the main road, there is an old castle that I wanted to visit: Sturefors. The castle itself is private and not open to the public, but part of the surrounding park (with a view of the castle) is. And the reason that I wanted to see it is that back in the 1920s, my paternal grandmother's older half-sister Gerda (born 1881) worked there for a while, as lady's maid to a Countess Bielke. The castle is still owned by the same family, Bielke (an ancient noble family). 

Back in 2022, I wrote a post about this in my family history blog Greetings from the Past. Sturefors seems have been Gerda's last place of employment before she became lady's maid to Estelle Bernadotte (born Manville; an American young woman from Pleasantville, New York) who married the Swedish count Folke Bernadotte in 1928. I have since got it confirmed from a reliable source that Gerda was kind of "headhunted" for the latter position in the autumn of 1928, before their wedding (which took place in Pleasantville). (Folke was related to the Swedish royal family; became a well-known diplomat towards the end of WWII and after; and was sadly assasinated in Jerusalem 1948. But Gerda remained with Estelle for the rest of her life; and lived to be nearly 92.)

In the 1920s, Gerda sent this postcard of Sturefors castle to her step-mother Selma (my paternal great-grandmother):

(original postdard, yellowed with age)

(edited back to b&w by me)

 ... and I was curious to see for myself how it compares to 2022!

Alas my impression was that the present-day family is probably struggling to keep the estate going at all - or at least keeping the park with the huge mirror pond free from weeds does not seem to have been their first priority of late... The maintenance of the park also seems to have deteriorated quite a bit even since the photos in the Wikipedia articles were taken! So it takes quite a bit of imagination now to try to envisage what it all looked like when my great-aunt was living and working there, a hundred years ago. (I'm still glad we took the trouble to find it, though.)

The castle itself still looks rather impressive - but alas, the public is not allowed any closer than that yellow sign.

 

Turning around, and looking in the other direction: 

 

Walking back towards the car park, and some other buildings belonging to the estate:

 

 
Even this "cultural heritage" sign looks rather old and tired by now...

 

 

 

  

 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 789 

 

Road Trip 2025 (2) - Löfstad Castle

Saturday, 9 August - Part 2
Löfstad Castle

From Brahehus Castle ruin (at Gränna, by Lake Vättern) we intended to drive straight to our destination for the next two nights: Linköping, the 5th largest city in Sweden. From the map, it also seemed easy enough to visit their Old Town museum area (with lots of old wooden buildings) on the outskirts, before driving further into the city to find our hotel. 

And surely there must be signs to show us the way there from the main road (E4)...

(You'll find our road trip map repeated at the bottom of this post.) 

On we drove; and we knew we were approaching Linköping, because of big aeroplanes on display just by the road... (Saab in Linköping has produced several types of aeroplanes over the years.)

We did not yet see any sign or exit though. And after a while we started to feel like the city must be even bigger than we remembered it...

Then I noted that a sign by the side of the road now only told us the distance to Norrköping - the next city along the road - without mentioning Linköping any more... So I started to suspect that somehow we must have missed the exit. (In retrospect, we arrived at the conclusion that this could have happened while we were in a queue behind some horse transport vehicles blocking the view for us.) 

While we were discussing this, a sign turned up pointing to Löfstad Slott (Castle). Then I knew for sure that we must have passed Linköping quite a while ago; because when planning the trip, I had thought about trying to work a visit to that castle into our travel plan - but had scrapped that idea, because I found it to be too far in the wrong direction!

Ah well. Now we were here anyway, so might just as well have a look, while getting our bearings again! Especially since there was also a sign saying Café... Which we really felt in need of by now!

My brother consulting the map on his phone - again...

Löfstad (or Lövstad) Castle is situated between Linköping and Norrköping in the province of Östergötland. The building is from the 17th century and came under the ownership of the Östergötlands museum in 1940. The castle is now a museum open with guided tours.

No guided tour available when we arrived, so we just looked at it from the outside.

The garden centre with café was open, though, and we had some refreshments there!  

Down by the road and car park there is a tiny yellow wooden gatehouse. 

A sign nearby tells the story of a woman who used to live there:

 

 

Sofie in the Box 
Carolina Sofie Eliasson was one of many who worked at the castle but didn't live there. She grew up nearby, emigrated to America in 1890, but moved back to Sweden and Löfstad in the beginning of the 20th century, now with a small son, Algot. They moved into the gatehouse down by the road, resembling a little box; which is why she came to be known as "Sofie in the Box". For a while, she shared the house with another woman. They then tied a string across the room, to keep little Algot from crawling over to the wrong side.
Sofie used to milk the cows on the estate, but also helped with cleaning inside the castle, laundry, and even scrubbing the stone walls.
On a summer evening, people would gather down at Sofie's house to watch cars passing on the road - a popular pastime!

 

  
For your convenience, I've decided to repeat this map at the bottom of each road trip post.