Great B&B in Mariefred, SWEDEN – the petite & historical town by the water

Sometimes you walk into a Bed & Breakfast or hotel you are to stay at and its as gorgeous as as you saw it in the pictures. Mia & myself together with Bella our dog went for a two day dog course just outside Mariefred. We went out of town on a three day tour or mini vacation if you like. We had a very nice time all three days. We met nice people. Great surroundings with great nature around. A great dog course of course – and we stayed at the best Bed & Breakfast in Mariefred, in my view, just an hour drive south of Stockholm, SWEDEN. And seriously you have to look for a very long time to find such a nice place like this one. Period.

The B&B ”Skomakargården” runned by Maria & Klas Welander is situated in a old house (an old stable from the beginning of 1800´s) sharing the same inner garden as their own house right in the middle of the town. Cant be more central. A few minutes walk to both the historically important Gripsholm Castle and the harbour that takes you out and around the Mälardalen (inner archipelago as I use to call it). Our room was a former hay loft in the stable.

A historical site from the Vikings and or Bronze age.
About 10-15 minutes drive outside Mariefred a 1000 year old Viking & bronze age grave field and ”skeppsättning” is very easy reached called ”Åsa Gravfält”.  The ”Skeppsättning” can be quickly translated into a ”Stone Circle” with the big difference that the Vikings and some from the bronze age placed the stones like a ship. (aprox. 2000 of these are known and found in Scandinavia but apperantly mostly in Sweden). This historical place has a grand view of the landscape just at the edge of the small road. Those Vikings or Bronze age people must have been struck by poetry for placing it so lovely and poetically with much symbolism in my view in its placement.

We had an absolutely great time at the B&B at Klas & Maria. The room was immaculate and beautifully restored and decorated with a small window towards the inner garden and an on suite bathroom (shower). TV and AC in the room. They served a wonderful, good & tasty and nutritional breakfast of newly baked assortments of bread. Juice, yougurt with musli and coffee and tea of course. No time for details, it was simply a good one. No simple plain white bread  with a lot of air in it. Important to me. A very nicely decorated eating area. Breakfast began at 8. And Maria had brilliantly asked and customized the breakfast so both Mia and I could eat it. I have been at good hotels that simply don’t serve so that everyone can eat, its that simple and bad at so called fancy pantsy places to be honest. We felt taken care of and welcomed. There is a believe 6 rooms of which 2 are on the loft like ours. And the only downside, and it wasnt much of a hazzle, was that the room we had that is allowed to have a dog in it had maybe a too steep stair case. But Bella managed it perfectly. Bella is a trooper.

It was a joy to sit both inside and outside in the inner garden to eat and relax over a good book in evening, a morning paper to breakfast and hang out.

I most definitly recomend this to anyone going to Mariefred, be it on vacation, business meating or a congress next door.

Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator & artist