When I found out that floral designer/sculpture/magic maker Tage Andersen had a summer palace in Sweden, I knew I had to go with my mom when she came to visit me in Denmark last summer (yes, I'm THAT behind on blog posts). It's about 4 hours from Copenhagen by car and it will blow your mind. You must go here before you die.
It's called Gunillaberg and it was owned by the first Swedish representative to America before America was America. Mr. Andersen bought it a few years ago and has turned it into a museum? wonderland? farm? gallery? All those magical things. This year there's a brand new orangerie even. I'm going to walk you through. You start by entering through two topiaries. Topiaries mean that you know it's gonna be good.
Then you pass some cows on both sides and I didn't get any good photos but there were then dozens of potbelly pigs. POTBELLY PIGS!
Then, you pass this beautiful barn
before coming to this little hut draped in burlap and checkerboard. It's the sign-in, of course.
Mr. Andersen has created a number of topiary courtyards. This one is complete with whiskey barrel planters, which makes me feel really good because our rental right now has a few in front so I feel better about having them in our yard.
No Scandinavian locale is complete without chopped wood.
or a bunch of roosters running around.
More of those whiskey barrels.
And here I spotted Mr. Tage Andersen. I didn't have the guts to chat with him this time around for fear of turning into Superfan, which I had already established when I tracked him down in Copenhagen at his downtown studio.
Swedish flag.
And oh, the details! Nothing is basic. Stacked branches to hold the water barrels.
"I think it's T double E double R double R double I double F double I double C, C, C". What movie?
And now, we get to the palace doors.
Just a sculpture of a tree. NBD.
Ok, that's all I'm going to leave you with for now. And the amazing part? It somehow gets better.
