Glimmingehus

Jens Holgersen Ulfstand had this built from 1499, when Skane was Danish, and the master mason Adam van Duren gave it walls up to two and a half metres thick, murder holes over the entrance, a stair designed to disadvantage anyone climbing it with a sword, and machicolations along the top. It was obsolete as a defence almost immediately, which is probably why it survived: nobody bothered to knock it down or modernise it, and the interior is bare stone rooms with the original vaults. There was an order to demolish it in 1676 that was never carried out. It stands alone in fields with a small museum, a herb garden and a restaurant.

What's there

• Walls up to two and a half metres thick - and the defensive detail.
• A stair built to disadvantage attackers - and murder holes at the door.
• Bare vaulted rooms - never modernised.
• A building alone in open fields - with a herb garden and museum.

When to go

April to September; closed much of the winter. An hour and a half.

Good to know

The interior is empty stone with little furnishing. Stairs are steep and narrow. The season is short. You need a car, and there is nothing else immediately around it.

Nearby

Simrishamn is east; Ystad and the coast are south-west.

Key facts