SWEDISH GARDENS
Gunnebo House and Gardens is a member of Swedish Gardens, a network of 35 of the foremost parks and gardens…..
Verdant gardens and parks surround the buildings at Gunnebo. These were created at the same time as the other buildings and in most cases were designed by Gunnebo’s architect, Carl Wilhelm Carlberg. There are three types of garden in the grounds: the formal garden, the English park and the kitchen gardens. All the gardens have a KRAV organic certification. The kitchen gardens are planned every year in close collaboration with the chefs at Gunnebo’s restaurant, Kaffehus och Krog, and the vegetables that are harvested here are served in the restaurant. We aren’t self sufficient in vegetables but as a rule there is always something tasty on the plate, all year round, that has been grown in our garden.
Architect Carl Wilhelm Carlberg’s original drawings provide most of the detail for the reconstruction work being carried out at Gunnebo. The formal garden has been restored to its former glory in several stages, from 1949 to the present day.
The formal gardens are architectonic, and interact intimately with the house and buildings. You’re greeted by symmetry and harmony with authentic period detail. During architect Carlberg’s extensive travels abroad he was inspired by immaculately clipped Italian renaissance and French baroque gardens. The gardens were designed to enhance the viewer’s experience of the beautiful wooden mansion house at the same time as acting as extensions of the building out into the surrounding landscape.
Our gardeners work from the architect’s preserved drawings, and make use of traditional craft methods. The land has been shaped by the architect’s drafting pen and the gardener’s hand. Ground staff make a real effort to keep the old crafts alive – the scythe is the go to tool used in everyday maintenance here!
The different green rooms are adorned with decorations in the form of garden furniture, statues, urns and exotic plants. Take a walk around and let your imagination be inspired by these lovely spaces.
During some Sundays in the Summer months guided tours of the gardens are offered. Tickets can be purchased here.
The English Park was created towards the end of the 1700s to provide a bridge between the buildings, gardens and the surrounding grounds. The philosophical currents flowing in Europe advocated a back to nature movement. English parks were designed for romantic walks and exciting journeys of discovery. Often special buildings were constructed in these parks. There was originally a hermitage at Gunnebo, and probably a temple where the gentry could retire to for leisure and contemplation. Much of what was in the English Garden has been lost and remains to be reconstructed. Don’t miss the winding path from the house up to Flora’s hill where one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the park can be found.
The Old Kitchen Garden was probably already in existence before the construction of the new one in the 1780-90s, but was re-designed by the architect Carl Wilhelm Carlberg. Nowadays, amongst other things, asparagus, rhubarb, herbs and lots of cut flowers are grown there. The gardeners’ aim is to create a modern interpretation of a kitchen garden, with historic intent. Different varieties of espalier pear trees grow against the wall – Espargne, Swedish sockerpäron, Windsor, Fikon pear, Autumn Bergamot pear, Taffel pear and Fullerö.
The New Kitchen Garden is situated below the hothouse. Our ambition is to give an idea of what a typical Swedish kitchen garden from the 1700s looked like. Organic vegetables are cultivated here, with the focus mainly on heritage varieties. The beds are framed by berry bushes and fruit trees.
Because the gardens have a Swedish KRAV certification the gardeners work using organic methods only. We follow a 6 year crop rotation in the New Kitchen Garden and a plan is drawn up every year by experienced gardeners in consultation with the chefs in our restaurant.
The hothouse was recreated on the terrace above the New Kitchen Garden between 1996-1999. The building wasn’t based on existing plans, but used drawings, archaeological investigations and comparative studies of other contemporary hothouses as source material. Some of the vegetables and cut flowers for the kitchen garden are raised in the hothouse during spring. In February/March Jerusalem artichoke, leeks and cardoon are started off. Many of the plants that have been out in the urns in the gardens during summer are also kept here during winter.