Aerial view of the red house in a clearing in spruce and pine forest stretching to the horizon

Skogen

Forest on every side of the lawn

The walk starts at the back door

Spruce and pine forest grows to the edge of the garden, and the one-way road ends at the house. Allemansrätten, the Swedish right of public access, lets anyone walk in the forest and pick wild mushrooms and berries.

The forests of western Värmland are also the home range of the white moose.

A woven basket of freshly picked chanterelles with a mushroom knife, on moss

Mushrooms · Svamp

Chanterelles

Chanterelles and other mushrooms grow in the forest around the house from late summer into autumn, and the first ones can turn up within sight of the garden.

Guests fry them in butter in a cast-iron pan on the tripod over the fire pit and eat them on toast the same evening.

Pick only mushrooms you can identify with certainty.

late summer into autumn

Ripe lingonberries on the plant

Berries · Bär

Blueberries, then lingonberries

Blueberries ripen in high summer and lingonberries from late August, and allemansrätten covers picking both.

The kitchen has a blender and an oven for baking what comes back in the basket, and lingonberries go on the side of Swedish dinners such as meatballs.

lingonberries from late August

Aerial view of forest stretching to lakes on the horizon

Walks · Vandring

From the garden to the hilltops

Guests walk straight from the house into the forest. The marked trails around Arvika include these, listed with their length:

  • Storkasberget, to a 244 m hilltop with a view tower over Arvika1.9 km
  • Kvarnstigen, the Mill Path, along the Viksälven creek1 km
  • Björnmyra, circular trails around a cabin south of Arvika9.7 km
  • Sotar Blixtleden, from Jössestugan in Rackstad past a mire and a lily lake11 km
  • Glaskogen nature reserve, protected since 1970300 km

Arvika Adventures leads guided beaver and moose safaris, timed by arrangement.

marked trails from 1 km to 300 km

Snow-covered garden with low winter sun over the forest

Winter · Vinter

Cross-country tracks around Arvika

When snow comes, Kärrsmossen has a 6 km cross-country track close to town and Fredros Gård a 15 km track in the north of the municipality, where snow often lasts longer, and some of the tracks are lit. The open terrain of the Byamossarna reserve lies between Mangskog and Gunnarskog.

“Despite -30 and a lot of snow stood strong.”Nikita, guest, January 2024

6 km of track at Kärrsmossen