Ah, we’ve missed sunshine so much! Have you noticed how happy you become when the sun is shining? At least when you live in a Nordic country, the radiating sunrays can do magic.
I vacuum cleaned my Aeroprakt, and invited Jens for a flight. Though the weather was good over Zealand, we wouldn’t be able to cross over the water, if we wanted to fly west. There was excellent weather in Skåne, Sweden, but the entry has been closed for the residents of Denmark due to corona virus. I proposed to go and see manor houses of Northern Zealand:
I intentionally excluded the big and famous castles from our route – we’ve seen them so many times. We wanted to see something new.
Jens and I often did de-routing, when we appreciated beautiful things on our way, like this view:
First old manor house that day was Ellingegaard:
In the Middle Ages, it was the largest farm in the village of Ellinge. The main building is from 1740, and was later rebuilt a couple of times. From the 17th century, Ellingegaard was merged with the nearby Annebjerggaard (photo below). The two farms remained combined through the 18th century, but had many changing owners.
Annebjerggaard is known for its largest glass collection in Scandinavia. The property was once owned by J.C. Hempel, the founder of Hempel Group (coatings industry), who established a culture house and a museum there. The white building today is a hostel:
I stayed in Annebjerggaard hostel together with my friend Lene for about 10-12 years ago. It was a very nice place, we loved it – probably because we were the only visitors. We used to have dinner on the grass in its garden…
Jens and I continued our flight via Rørvig and Hundested:
South-east of Hundested there is a place called Grønnessegaard. It is a relatively young estate that has existed since the end of the 18th century. Grønnessegaard hosts annually a spectacular event called TimeWinder, and I have visited it several times, also by air (there is an airstrip).
You can read about such an event I attended together with Christian, and see pictures here. It is normally a three-day show with old agricultural machines, steam vehicles, vintage cars and aircraft, military stuff, good food, music, dancing, and much more. I recommend visiting.
Our next waypoint was Arresødal that has an interesting background. Arresødal was established as a manor house in 1773 by Johan Frederik Classen, who was one of the most prominent figures of his time in the Danish business community. As a young man he had come to Copenhagen, where he studied at the university and took a theological exam. However, he did not become a priest, but made a career in business – especially weapons production.
In 1756, together with the merchant Just Fabritius, he took over a factory by the Isefjord, which they transformed into a weapon company. The company flourished, and soon a small town arose, which was named Frederiksværk, around the factory. Today, Frederiksværk is a town of approx. 13,000 residents and a gunpowder mill museum (among other things) with one of the world’s best-preserved powder mills with buildings and working machines from 1800. And the buildings of Arresødal are used as a private hospital and hospice.
We had two more manor houses left on our list for this flight that were on the eastern coast of Zealand. We flew to Humlebæk, a small town at the shore to Oresund, and did a round over it:
The history of Krogerup (photo below) dates back to the 17th century when it was a farm. During the WWII, Krogerup and its grounds were used for the training of Danish Police. In 1944, Nazi stormed the building. About 70 of the men who were at Krogerup were captured and sent to the Nazi concentration camps.
Krogerup folk high school was opened in 1946 with the well-known theologian and politician, Hal Koch, as founder and headmaster. Later on, the school established a Hal Hoch Prize, as a recognition of the significant importance that Hal Koch has had for the democracy debate. This prize is awarded annually to people, organizations or projects that take special responsibility for the development and vitality of democracy.
We continued to Nivaagaard, established in the second half of the 18th century. I couldn’t get a decent picture of the manor from air, so took one from Wikipedia:
Nivaagaard is well-known for its art museum founded by politician Johannes Hage around 1900, who owned the property and was an art collector. A large rhododendron garden is open for public and is loved by locals.
The estate was once a place for a brickyard set up by Queen Louise in 1701, to produce brick for the royal buildings. In 1857 the factory was one of the first in Denmark to introduce a steam engine in the production chain. The oven remained in use for 97 years up until 1967. Later the Nivaagaard brickyard was re-opened as a museum.
Jens and I were so happy about the sunlight that day. We often circled, to get the most out of the warm sunrays. And the skies were blue – it could only be better if there was snow:
We headed home, full of wonderful experiences.