Outings in Uppland

As always there's a backlog named plenty when it comes to writing for me, different little stories or events that absolutely need to get written down - and some don't only because I can't find the exact right title to match the content...

Since there's been a whole lot of food entries as lately I thought I'd stay away from that and continue on our way through parts of South Africa, ah but then I realised it was surely going to be about food since we'd now reached a town of fine dining, Montagu...

And to have a last touch down in Scania meant telling you about the place of... food that really shouldn't be missed.

To then head over to Copenhagen also meant telling you about all the great vegetarian meals you can get there. Before continuing over to other matters of possible interest.

And if I'd write about the object of my desire it was sort of going to involve some lunches...

Then I could tell you about how I cleaned the bathroom today, and afterwards felt like I'd had a sever case of workout in a sauna. Which was very gratifying and as icing on that heavy workout I treated myself with a hairpak, facial masque, sugar scrub and all sorts of lovely lotions - but that's really not worth going into any details over I guess, and besides there are always food ingredients in those products...

So I'll give you two, three places of excursions - well worth a visit even if you don't have a Toy Car to get you there - that have absolutely nothing to do with food. Unless you don't count the fact that one of them also includes a vegetable garden, where I bought the brothers Courgette... *Oh I'm haunted*

Anyhow. First out. The church in Härkeberga. Which may not look much on the outside. But inside there are these quite curious and amazing looking paintings in the ceiling by the painter Albertus Pictor (Albert the Painter), who lived during the 15th century. He was originally from Germany and is considered to have been one of the most well renowned painters in Sweden during that time. He mostly worked, with the help of journeymen, with adorning churches. Such as this in Härkeberga. He apparently was a progenitor when it came to this bold and unusual style in painting churches.

After having stared up into the ceiling you sort of deserve to sit down and rest your neck over a cup of coffee or an icecream I suppose - here we go again... - and on the other side of the narrow road from Härkeberga church there's a tiny little handicraft shop, flee market and sort of café. Haven't had anything edible there though, and since both Alsta Gardens and Nibble Farm aren't all that far away...

Next stop. Österbybruks Mansion, a place, a province, wellknown for its Walloon forges. Now giving the impression of a more than sleepy smalltown. But still quite a nice place for a summer drive. And they had a very nice potterybarn in an adjacent building to the mansion, not to mention the very nice vegetable and flower gardens of Österbybruks Orangery.

Must make a mental note of go shopping plants and flowers there for next season, the prices where extremely appealing and the plants so very nice. What wasn't as nice was the small stable café - oops, again... - on the property. Seemingly unpretentiously charming, but really, the morsels on offer were far from good...

In the 15th century the mansion belonged to Örbyhus Castle, then owned by the house of Vasa. A quite lovely, wellkept castle a few miles from Österbybruk, with a vast stretching lawn, an orangery where summer concerts are held as well as other cultural happenings. Just outside the castle gardens there's also a golfcourse, the clubhouse lodged in the old castle barn...

And if you're really, really lucky you might be greeted by this handsome looking Maine Coon Jameson who lives with his family nearby the castle. He's usually not very friendly, his willingness to accommodate picturetaking that day might, just might, have something to do with the fact that we'd bought a large amount of catnip at Österbybruks Orangery...