Backaskog Castle

The Premonstratensians founded a house here in the thirteenth century and it was converted to a private residence after the reformation, then extended through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries into the long low white building that stands now. Karl XV used it as a summer residence from the 1860s and had the gardens laid out; the herb garden and the terraces date from that period. It runs as a hotel, restaurant and conference house today, with the grounds and the chapel open to walk through. The setting is the strip of land between two lakes, with Ivosjon on one side and Oppmannasjon on the other and paths along both shores.

What you actually see

• A thirteenth-century monastery core - inside a much later house.
• Karl XV's gardens - terraces and a herb garden from the 1860s.
• The chapel - open with the grounds.
• A strip between two lakes - water on both sides.

When to go

May to September for the gardens. An hour and a half.

Honest expectations

It is a working hotel, so interiors are largely private. There is no museum. Events close parts of the grounds. Public transport is poor.

Nearby

Ivo island is on the lake; Kristianstad and the Vattenriket are south-west.