Ronneby Brunnspark

Ronneby's chalybeate spring was developed from 1705 and the resort around it grew through the nineteenth century into one of the largest in northern Europe, with hotels, a bath house, pavilions and a park of some eighty hectares laid out on the slopes. The cure went out of fashion and the medical business closed, but the park stayed and has been maintained since as public gardens: a rhododendron valley with several thousand plants, a Japanese garden, a rose garden, formal beds and long stretches of woodland and lawn. Several of the original wooden spa buildings survive among them, and one runs as a hotel. It is free and open at all hours.

What to look for

• A rhododendron valley - several thousand plants in flower in May.
• Japanese and rose gardens - among formal beds.
• Surviving spa buildings - wooden pavilions and a hotel.
• Eighty hectares of park - woodland, lawn and slopes.

When to go

May to September; late May for the rhododendrons. Two hours.

Practical notes

The rhododendron display is a short window. Winter leaves it bare. The old spa buildings are mostly not open. It is a park, not an attraction with facilities.

Nearby

Ronneby town is beside it; the Blekinge archipelago is south.

Key facts