Kattrup

On previous flight, I couldn’t fly my planned route because of the clouds. So when a chance came, I was ready. Pre-flight check, and off we go.

I was going to see the rest 3 castles/manor houses I didn’t see last flight (highlighted in green below):

Vesterbygaard was the first one I approached. It was located north of Tissø lake, surrounded by trees. One could see the remains of the water-filled moats with bridges:

Vesterbygaard has been known from the Middle Ages. The place changed many hands; Gabriel Marselis I wrote about in my previous blogpost, was once also an owner.

In 1729 the estate was bought by Niels Henrichsen, originally a merchant from Iceland. Ah, all those foreign merchants! 🙂 In Denmark, he had a career as a councilor, justice and deputy mayor. His son, Henrich Henrichsen, took later over Vesterbygaard. In 1747 he was knighted under the name Hjemstierne and in 1777 he took office as a secret councilor, one of the king’s closest advisers. However, he is best known for his large book collection, which was handed over to the Royal Library and can today be found under the name “Den Hjelmstierne-Rosencroneske Bogsamling”.

It is the most significant of all Danish special collections, and consists of approx. 10,000 printed works published in the Danish-Norwegian monarchy of that time or abroad by Danes. The prints of the 16th and 17th centuries are particularly richly represented, and among them 125 manuscript books (printed before 1551), many of which are unique.

Between Vesterbygaard and Kattrup, my next viewpoint, lies Åmosen Nature Park:

With its area of 8,500 ha, this nature park forms a continuous wetland corridor consisting of river valleys, lakes and bog areas, which stretch for 45 km through a hilly moraine landscape. There are many different hiking routes, also routes for bikes, guided tours, shelters and campfire huts. One more place to visit on my wishlist – when the weather is not for flying.

Soon I was flying by Kattrup, that originally was a crown estate. In 1393 it was donated by Queen Margrethe I to Sorø Monastery. Since 1949 it has been owned by the A.P. Møller (a Danish shipping magnate who founded the A.P. Moeller-Maersk Group) family:

I did a couple of rounds over the nearby villages, and The Aviator was very happy in his passenger seat:

The last “stop” for the day was Dønnerup – it looked so nice in the low afternoon sun. Please note the long shadows from its trees:

Dønnerup was a village which was first mentioned in 1199 under the name “Dindethorp”. In 1688 there were 12 farms in the town and a few houses. Today, this estate has different businesses, like production of Christmas trees, game and nature management, housing rental, forestry, contractor services.