Hi everyone ! How was your summer ? I hope you had a marvelous few months. Myself was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks with my husband in one of our favourite scandinavian country, Denmark. Staying there, it is like a feeling of relaxation washing over me like an old familiar friend. I feel safe and calm and it is easy to unwind.
Out in the garden outside our rented holiday home. This is the third year coming back to Lejre, a peaceful cultural village outside Roskilde town. It feels like home now.
The garden is sheltered, lush and green, home for vegetables, lavender, butterflies and also a little family of blackbirds.
There are a lot of different things to explore in Lejre, it is called the "land of the Legends". It is actually an open-air park in the most beautiful Danish countryside, where you can stroll among reconstructions of the ancient living enviroments, like the
Age village, the
stone Age camp, the viking market and the 19th century farm cottages.
The fabulous castle of
Ledreborg or
Fredriksborg is worth a visit also, but my favourite thing to do is just have a quiet walk or drive around and soak up the peacefulness and the natural surroundings. I could watch the beautiful horses grazing on the fields forever..
Taking time to unwind is lovely, but of course we could not sit still for long. Lejre is a meetingplace for people with interest in organic lifestyle, myself included. Lejre has the aim of becoming the first "organic municipality" in Denmark, and has therefore a huge number of local farmers and others that produces a healthy and varied range of products. With markets every Wednesday and Saturday, you are spoiled with a large assortment of freshly made salamis, locally produced cheeses (got to have my cheese!!), organic bread, honey, fish, fruits and vegetables.
There are plenty of organic places to visit nearby Lejre, one of them are
Herslev Bryghus. A charming micro brewery in the village of Herslev. The day we went was incredible hot and humid, it could not have been a better moment to arrive at their doorstep. It was perfect for a little taste of their cold organic beers. Have you ever tasted beer made with honey and chamomile ?? None of us had. Very surprised by the bitter taste it was not as sweet as I thought it might be. But I really liked their "Midsommerbryg", sweet and light as summer. I had this great plan to take a lot of tasty pictures, well I didn`t. Cooling down was the only thing on my mind...
- The Herslev farm shop is a member of
Regional madkultur Sjælland and Culinary Heritage Europe. I loved the look of their shop !These green boxes, what a beautiful way to display your products. I had to buy a bottles of their beer vinegar, curious about how it will work with what I normal cook.
Fields of grain nearby our holiday home. I just had to stop and have a look. What a sight..
We visited a numerous of Farm Shops also, since there is very few where I live. Sidinge (also member of the Culinary - Heritage, region Sjælland Denmark) was by far the most memorable with their wide range of high quality products like their own ageing beer, wine, chocolate, production of different kinds of jams and other delicacy, gift items, vegetables, apples from their own apple orchard and a huge selection of cheese. Homemade jam, chutney and relish are produced in the small kitchen behind the farm shop. I know these delicates goes well with the cheese !
My husband is Dutch, and they are known to be very passionate about their cheese. They eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or as snack. So this visit was inspiring for the both of us. I loved their homemade jams and chutney that I brought back, also can`t wait to taste their apple juice. Beautiful bottles, I will use them for water later when emptied...
I am still lingering in vacation mood, although I have been quite busy harvesting, parboiling and storing a lots of fruits and vegetables these last couple of weeks. Telling you more about that very soon. Have a great start to the week !
~ Aina ~
