Six hundred yards. That is the whole of it, and it is the reason this cottage costs what it costs and the reason people book it again. The gravel ends, the car stays at a stone wall, and you walk. An oland vacation package ten minutes from the road is not a wilderness proposition on this island; it is a deliberate piece of quiet bought with one carry.
Öland runs about 85 miles north to south and never gets much more than 10 miles wide. It is a slab of limestone lying in the Baltic off the Swedish mainland, joined by a bridge a little under four miles long, and the geology decides everything: thin soil, no forest to speak of over the southern half, water that runs off sideways instead of down. The cottage sits on the eastern shore side, low, with a stone wall line running away from it and the sea about a quarter mile further on across grazing ground.
The number that surprises people is the light. In the second half of June the sun sets around half past nine and the sky does not go properly dark before it comes back. You cook at eleven at night with the door open. The number that surprises them the other way is the mosquito, which owns the shore meadow from dusk in late May through most of July, and no amount of wind at the wall makes the sheltered side of the cottage bearable without repellent.
- Step
- Ten minutes on foot , Ten minutes
- How far from the road
- The gravel track ends at a turning circle by a stone wall, and the cottage stands about 600 yards away across mowed shore meadow, roughly ten minutes at a walking pace with a bag in each hand.
- What the distance costs
- The walking surface is cut grass over thin soil on limestone, flat within about twelve feet of rise the whole way, with two rock outcrops that stand a few inches proud and one board crossing over a drainage ditch about three feet wide. Ten minutes empty becomes fifteen to eighteen with a full load, and most parties do two trips rather than one heroic one. Wheeled cases roll badly on cut grass and not at all on the outcrops, so pack soft bags or a frame pack. The owner keeps a two wheel garden cart chained at the turning circle for groceries and gear, which is what a week of self catering actually weighs. After heavy rain the last hundred yards holds standing water in the ditch line for a day or two and boots come out; there is no closure and no gate, because there is nothing to close. Firewood, gas bottles and the water filter cartridge are carried in for you before arrival, not by you.
- Nights
- 6
- From
- $2,260 per person
- Shape of it
- self catering cottage, ten minutes across grass
- What is in the figure
- Six nights sole use of the two bedroom cottage; bed linen and towels made up on arrival; wood for the stove and one spare gas bottle; the garden cart at the turning circle; a printed sheet of the mowing dates for the shore meadow and where the ground nesting birds are that month; the grocery order placed and carried in before you arrive, billed at cost; parking at the turning circle for one car; a written route sheet from the bridge with the turning by name, not by app.
- What is not
- Flights and any onward travel to the island; the rental car, its fuel and the bridge approach; the groceries themselves, which are billed at cost on top; restaurant meals, and there is no restaurant within walking distance of the cottage; bicycle rental, which most parties want by day two; the fee at the limestone quarry visitor parking and any admission tickets; laundry, since the cottage has a sink and a line and nothing else; a second car space, which does not exist at the turning circle; mosquito repellent, which you should bring in the quantity you think excessive; anything at all after the last afternoon, because departure is a driving day and we do not price it as a night.
- Who it does not suit
- Anyone who cannot carry or cart a week of food and bags 600 yards over uneven cut grass, twice. Anyone who needs a paved or lit approach to the door after dark, since there is no lighting on the meadow at all. Anyone who wants to park at the building.
Limestone, grass, and a wall that goes nowhere
The ground here is alvar, a word worth knowing before you arrive. It means limestone pavement with an inch or three of soil on top, sometimes less, so the grass is short and hard and the flowers are small and specific. In late May and early June the ground is spotted with orchids and rockrose; by August the same ground is straw colored and cracks open along the joints in the stone. Nothing you walk on is deep. Nothing drains downward.
The stone walls are the other fact. They run for miles across the southern half of the island in a grid nobody maintains for its own sake anymore, and one of them passes about forty yards from the cottage door. They are dry laid, they are older than anyone can casually date, and they are not to be climbed, because a dislodged cap stone takes an afternoon to put back properly and the grazing arrangements depend on them standing.
Windmills are the postcard and they are also just there, in twos and threes on rises, most of them post mills of the wooden box type. From the cottage you can see two. The nearest is about a mile off along the track and the ground between is grazed, which means gates, which means closing them behind you. Cattle are on the shore meadow from late May, and they are large, curious and used to walkers.
What each month actually does here
The season is not long and it is not evenly good. The island is dry, the driest place in Sweden by rainfall, and that dryness shows up as brown grass in August and as dust on the gravel track from July onward. Wind is constant on the shore side and it is the main reason evenings outdoors are pleasant at all in high summer.
Water temperature in the shallow bays comes up faster than the open Baltic because the limestone shelf is shallow, and by the last week of July people swim without discussion. In June they mostly do not.
- Late April to mid May
- Migration on the shore meadow, ground still soft, cottage cold in the mornings at 38 to 45 F, few mosquitoes
- Late May to end of June
- Orchids on the alvar, light until after ten, the longest days of the year, mosquitoes begin in earnest at the meadow edge
- July
- Warmest air at 68 to 75 F, dry, track dusty, the island at its busiest, mosquitoes heavy at dusk
- August
- Grass gone straw colored, sea warmest of the year, wind steady, insects finally easing
- Early September
- Cool and clear, 55 to 62 F, most visitors gone, walking best, daylight shortening fast
- Mid October onward
- Cottage closed for the season, water drained, nothing to book
Confirming a date and what we settle first
Confirmation on this one is unusually literal, because the walk in means the grocery order and the arrival timing have to be agreed before anything is held. We ask what you eat before we ask for a deposit, which surprises people, but a cottage 600 yards from a car with an empty cupboard is a bad first evening.
- Inquiry readWe reply the same working day with the open weeks and the two questions that matter: how many bags, and whether anyone in the party would rather not carry
- Written figureTwo to four working days for the full costed sheet, showing the six nights, the grocery estimate at cost, and the car space
- Deposit and dates heldThe week is held with the owner, the linen made up, and the wood and gas carried in ahead of you
- Route sheet issuedYou get the turning by name off the main road, the description of the stone wall, and the arrival window agreed so somebody is at the turning circle with the cart the first time
Ask before you decide
Tell us the month you are looking at and how many of you there are, and we will tell you plainly whether the meadow will be wet, whether the mosquitoes will be at their worst, and what the carry looks like for your party. If the answer is that this trip is the wrong shape for you, we would rather say so at the inquiry than after the deposit.