One Swedish Summer house

I've often gone to Sweden for work (as many of New House's high-quality fabrics and homewares are manufactured to high environmental standards there), but this was my first real Swedish holiday and I got to see a lot of the countryside.

Sweden is twice the size of the UK but with only 9 million people, it's so uncrowded and you drive for miles seeing nothing but trees and lakes with only a few red-painted houses or little farms in between. It's very beautiful.

I drove to Höga kusten (or the High Coast) which is a delightful area full of high hills with steep valleys that have either lakes, or deep Baltic sea-water inlets at the bottom. I was happy, as a good chum Annika, had invited me to stay, and had also just opened a new design gallery in Omne.

The bridge to Höga kusten :

My friends summer house :

I loved her little hut (and it's view) :

It'd not been decorated in years and had some great 60's or 70's wallpaper :

 I also loved the original kitchen in the main house :

For those who believe in location, location, location, I took these pics within 500yds of my chums house. From what I saw of Sweden, much of the countryside looks like this.....

The back garden :

The nearby Baltic :

The local lake :

Annika's new design gallery :

Teija Bruhn - who has 95 outlets in Japan and is one of Scandinavia's great designers opened the show :