We were reading about people's favourite places in the archipelago in the latest issue of Praktiskt Båtägande and saw a brief mention of Ängsö National Park, which is not so far from here. The small write-up painted a wonderful picture, so we wanted to see it for ourselves and set off mid-morning for the 15NM journey down Furusundleden to the island. This route is the one taken by the main ferry traffic from Stockholm to both Finland and Åland and is easily the most heavily trafficked area on the east coast. Along the way, we passed the beautiful town of Furusund itself, with the old wooden villas dating back to the eighteenth century.



Some of it also dates from modern times and in all honesty I can't say that it helps improve the town. What WERE they thinking?



It was relatively easy sailing off the route to Ängsö, though we were warily watching both the sky with its heavy, dark clouds heading our way as well as the dramatically plunging barometer (a sure sign that bad weather is on the way). This meant there would be both wind and rain, so we wanted to have a safe, sheltered sopt before it all began.

There were several free places at the complimentary guest pier, but we prefer to lie by anchor so we chose a spot next to the small island south of the pier and very soon after we moored, the heavens opened and it rained torrentially for a short time. By early evening, the guest pier was crammed full.



And the peculiar lighting of the sky that you see in that picture heralded an intense thunderstorm with strong winds, lots of lightning, loud thunderclaps and heavy hail which we enjoyed from the comfort of our cosy bed. One latecomer didn't find a place at the pier, so he dropped anchor as well, but chose a rather unfortunate place.



For those who can't read the sign, it says: Electrical Cableline. Anchoring Forbidden. Later on, we saw him row his dinghy to land and tie up to the sign itself! What a clueless person. And we are NOT surprised that he is a motorboat owner.

The weather was dark and overcast in the morning, but it cleared enough for us to go to land and take a look at this unique and special island. The name Ängsö means "meadow island" and it lives up to its name really well. It was originally two islands but due to rising land levels, the narrow strait separating them silted up and is now filled with marsh and reeds.



Ängsö became a national park in 1909 with the express purpose of protecting a typical agrarian landscape from the turn of the century. This landscape consists of large flower strewn meadows, reed filled marshland, forests of birch, aspen, linden, maple, ash oak and wild apple trees. There is one large forest area on the eastern part of the island (Österskogen) that has been left untouched and inside it is cool, dark, musty and a little eerie. One could well imagine that John Bauer's trolls inhabit a place like this.



One strange tree we found was in Svartviken bay, near the ruins of an old cottage. This was a small farm holding belonging to Adam Michaelsson, who built a simple home for himself and his new wife in the mid 1800s. He sadly died after only seven years and the widow lived here with her daughter, then later alone with her dog and a cow for the next fifty years, apparently in extreme poverty. She trimmed these two pine trees when they were saplings, then tied the two central branches together and they grew in a strange fork-like pattern.



She used to drag her child through this in order to help her avoid getting engelska sjukan (rickets) which was a common ailment in those days in this country with its long, dark winters. She was considered to be something of a healer and others came to her for similar treatment.

On some areas of the island, grazing animals are used to trim the undergrowth and while we were walking around we saw a flock of Roslagens sheep (very cute)



and a wandering herd of cattle doing their bit for the island.



In Hemudden Bay, the park ranger and his family live and work the farm areas as well as taking organised tour groups around and safeguarding the national park. Some areas are bird protection zones from February to September, so that area is out of bounds to park visitors.



It is also a working farm and in the farmyard we saw Gotland chickens and roosters fossicking around. They also come out to the picnic areas to muscle-in on the food and greet the visitors. We saw a little black hen snaffle a piece of bread from a child then hot foot it to the henhouse, hotly pursued by the rooster and a couple of other hens keen to share the booty.



It is a beautiful environment here and one that was very nearly destroyed by well-meaning but misguided "experts". When the park was first established, learned academic botanists were called in to advise on how best to care for the landscape. They had a lot of theoretical knowledge and could name all of the plant species in Latin, but lacked any real practical field experience.

They were appalled that the farmers said that they cut the meadow growth every year, then grazed their animals on the fields and even thinned out the forests, using the wood for fencing. In the eyes of these experts, the flower strewn meadows and shady woods were God's work and should be left untouched. Despite loud protests from the people who worked the land, these scientific experts prevailed and all cultivation was banned.

With surprising speed the meadows filled up with almost impenetrable willow thickets. The big spruce trees began to dominate in the forests, shutting out the light and killing off many other plant species. Not until the end of the 1930s did they admit their error and acknowledge that the beauty of Ängsö had been as a result of a long heritage of cultivation and that farming would have to be resumed. It took them thirty years to clear the land again and undo some of that damage and today the island is again a living reminder of Sweden's pastoral heritage.

As well as flowers, berries also abound here - blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and a lovely tiny wild strawberry called smultron. Lars-Göran relived his childhood summers by taking a stiff stalk of meadow grass and threading it with smultron, creating a sweet fruit kebab to enjoy. It was delicious!



This has been a great couple of days of wandering around the island and we've made a mental note to visit again and wander along the country paths.