By the Road - Hågelbyparken & Café Anna Giertz

In the suburb of Tumba, south of Stockholm, you'll find the utility Hågelbyparken (The Hågelby Park) a beautiful, lush Swedish folkpark (people's park) with conference facilities, petting zoo, youth hostel, open air dance floor, waterfall, garden, naturepaths for long or short walks etc.

The mansion (which now is a restaurant and hosts conferences) was built in the beginning of the 20th century by factory owner LM Ericsson - founder of the now internationally renowned Swedish company Ericsson - he also passed away there in 1926.

I remember attending some student ball at that mansion in my late teens, other than that the place is really way off, if you don't happen to live in the vicinity or have a car. Some months ago, we took a late summer drive there, had a walk in the lush garden and lunch at the pretty Café Anna Giertz, which serves light food, coffee and cakes.

The broccoli soup I went for wasn't at all what I had expected, but rather nice just the same and the homemade piece of sourdough bread was truly delicious. I bet the sandwiches are fab! The things for the sweet tooth were a bit sparse, but the little piece of sticky chocolate cake I had was all thumbs up.

The café, and surrounding garden, makes for a nice visit, although I wouldn't perhaps go out of my way to get there. One should also be very aware of the fact that it is a popular outing for the infamous pram mafia ie rowdy, screaming toddlers with parents who couldn't care less about consideration towards other visitors and fellow beings.

Café Anna Giertz is open all year round weekends 11-16, in summers every day. The food on offer is made with organic ingredients and that delicious bread is apparently also for sale. Now and then there are also inspirational theme weekends there, such as Tulip days, Cinnamon bun day, Halloween, Chocolate days, Apple days, Seven cookies day, Citrus days, Christmas fair and so forth. Oh yes, I saw that the café even hosts a knitting café every Sunday from Oct 5- Nov 16. Now doesn't that sound nice!

And who was Anna Giertz then? Well, that's the above mentioned LM Ericsson's daughter's name by marriage.