Via the Lendager Group
Sweden’s Halland region is getting a new foodie haven this month that combines permaculture farming with sustainable forest living.
Stedsans in the Woods is the brainchild of restaurateurs Mette Helbæk and Flemming Hansen, and comprises a farm-to-table restaurant and 14 glass-fronted guest cabins. The retreat sits within seven hectares of woodland on the banks of Lake Halla, between the cities of Gothenburg, Malmö, and Copenhagen.
‘The last couple of years we have been running a restaurant on top of a roof in Copenhagen – Stedsans ØsterGRO,’ says the duo. ‘The place was amazing but we needed our own space in real nature, far away from the city. We found our little dreamy patch of forest by the shore of Lake Halla in Southern Sweden and moved here in fall 2016.’
Hansen and Helbæk raised 1m SEK to fund the project via Kickstarter, and enlisted the Lendager Group to design Stedsans’ cabins and restaurant, Third Space, which is the heart of the project.
Cabins at Stedsans in the Woods are currently being built from up-cycled materials found on the 800 sq m site. These include abandoned greenhouses, barns and waste wood, which are being refashioned to create A-frame glazed structures. They will sit on stilts, hang between trees and even float on the lake.
Lendager is also using rammed earth for the buildings’ inner walls and excavated stone for external façades.
Third Space meanwhile is designed as two interlocking glazed prisms. One half will house a semi-outdoor kitchen, where food is cooked over a fire, and the other will have seating for up to 30 diners.
Produce for the restaurant will be grown at Stedsans’ on-site permafarm, and foraged from the surrounding forest.
‘We enjoy fresh ingredients from our own fields while we increase biodiversity, build up topsoil and minimize the use of water and fossil fuel,’ says the couple.
While the retreat is still being built, guests can stay in Bedouin style tents from 3,750 SEK, or dormitory tents from 2,000 SEK for a day and a night, and make use of the site’s sauna, and boats.
Stedsans in the Woods opens for business on 21 July.
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