Österlen

From Lund, we drove east along Road 11 to Ales stenar, an ancient megalithic monument perched high above the Baltic Sea. Being early risers as always, we had Sweden’s best-preserved ship tumulus entirely to ourselves. With the sun breaking through the clouds over Sandhammaren on the horizon, we jumped back in the car to catch the waves – again, alone.

From Sandhammaren, we continued to Kivik and its apple orchards, where William, being a true apple fanatic, indulged in everything apple-related before we dropped Anna off at "Fabriken Bästekille" for a retrospective exhibition of Elisabeth Ohlson’s photography. Though I had hoped to see her work myself, we decided it made more sense for Anna to take in the exhibition alone while I took the kids up to Brösarps Backar.

Driving along the winding roads of Österlen, every kilometre felt steeped in history, reaching back to the early 1980s when I used to sit snug in a red child’s seat behind my parent and take in the fields of Skåne as we rolled along. 

While the afternoon wore on, the rain intensified. By 3 p.m., we had little choice but to retreat indoors at Nordic Wellness in Ystad for five fast kilometres on the treadmill and a bit of weight training – before indulging in a wonderfully authentic Italian pizza at Gusto on Klostergatan.