On the way to Österlen

For a few years now, we have realised the value of kicking off the holiday with a little trip. This year we chose Österlen and the idea was that we would spend four nights in a tent. However, the trip grew and by the time we got going it had expanded to seven nights starting in Kalmar, moving on to a campsite in Österlen, a night in Simrishamn and finishing in Helsingborg before heading home again. This is the first of three posts about this road trip.

We thought it would be nice to drive the coastal stretch from Kalmar and down towards Skåne. So the first day was spent travelling across the country where we would make our first stop for the night in Kalmar. The plan was that we would stay in the city but by chance we fell on Åmund wine & fruit farm which is about a mile outside Kalmar. What a place! The environment with the nice houses and the well-kept garden was absolutely fantastic. As they did not have many visitors, we got their finest room. Unfortunately, they do not serve dinner on the farm except for larger parties, but we knew this beforehand, and had therefore taken the opportunity to buy some delicacies and goodies in Kalmar which we served on our terrace. A perfect start to our road trip. In the morning, a good breakfast was served in the Orangery. Now we were ready to go further down towards Österlen.

If you're passing through the Kalmar area and looking for accommodation, you should really check out this cosy place. Here you will find more information about Åmund Wine & Fruit Farm.

Since Rendahls does not drive many kilometres before it is time for coffee, the eleven o'clock coffee was taken at Äggaboden outside Ronneby. Egg tray is a cosy farm with a farm shop, B&B, restaurant and café.

The next stop on the way was Kristianstad where we strolled around a bit and stopped for lunch. A nice city that we would like to visit again when we have more time. The intention was to have a light lunch and then have an Otto ice cream in the square. Otto ice cream is a famous ice cream maker, and Kristianstad was the first place on our trip that had this ice cream. However, we made a total miscalculation and waddled out of town way too full to handle ice cream. But don't worry, more about Otto ice cream is coming and with a vengeance.

Towards the afternoon we arrived at Degeberga holiday village where we would pitch our tent for four nights. When we camp, we want to be comfortable so we have a large Indian tent that is a bit of a challenge to travel, but once up, there is plenty of room for everything you want to take with you. We can even have a stove in the tent for chilly evenings.

Degeberga was also short of visitors this summer, so apart from guests in some of the cabins, we were alone on the campsite. This meant that we had all the amenities to ourselves. As we're not keen on big hold-all campsites, this suited us perfectly. In a better summer than this one, I guess Degeberga is a quiet campsite, which can be nice after a day's hustle and bustle in Österlen.

Overall, it was very quiet in Österlen the week we were there. However, the following week we read that tourism had increased significantly.