A touch of Bullerbü and Lönneberga in Asens By

A trip from Jönköping to Asens By

We are looking for Bullerbü and Lönneberga. From Vox Hotel in Jönköping we set off to explore the area around Lake Vättern. Our destination is the Asens By museum village. This is a good half hour away by car. I have myself too Sweden presented: pretty, red-painted wooden houses with proper, white windows with crochet curtains blocking the view of the interior. Instead, blooming cherry trees and wild violets attract our attention. They grow wildly in the orchards of Asens By village in Smaland.

In Asens By you can stay in a hostel*

Do not remember that at Bullerbü and Lönneberga

Book your accommodation in Jönköping here *

The scenery in the Asens By culture reserve near Haurida reminds me a little of Bullerbü and Lönneberga. This is how Astrid Lindgren described her in her children's books "Wir Kinder aus Bullerbü" and her stories about "Michel aus Lönneberga". However, the little snotty noses that make these villages so lively in their stories are missing. I still have fond memories of their pranks from my childhood. I almost expect to see Michel or Pippi peeking out from behind one of the houses. Pippi's horse also fits well into the scenery. Somehow the rascals also seem to have a hand in our visit to this village in Smaland.

Is this now Asens or Bullerbü and Lönneberga — Is this Asens By or Bullerbü and Lönneberga?

Are we maybe in Bullerbü and Lönneberga?

We are late for our visit to this perfect village world in Smaland. Our two navigation devices - which otherwise worked so well - had difficulties finding the open-air museum. The address of the village museum is not stored in the device we brought with us from home or in the navigation device in our rental car. That's why we consulted a road map that we had received just a few hours earlier at the Jönköping tourist information office - ominously, with the note that it was a new map that we were not so happy with the implementation. We'll find out why in the afternoon.

Unlike usual, this time I didn't print out any maps from Google Maps showing the routes to the sights. I had relied on the fact that we would find our travel destinations with local maps and the navigation device. We even found a sign that said "Asens By Cultural Reserve". But then - for hours - the new map from the tourism authority thwarted our plans. Asens By was marked there near Galthult, not far from Haurida. Since we couldn't find the museum itself in our GPS, we simply entered the address, assuming that we would then come across the museum.

Do you like to travel by motorhome?

A campsite nearby is Gränna Camping, Hamnvägen 49, 563 31 Gränna, Sweden. There are other campsites in the area. There you can have your dinner in one after a day trip Dutch Oven or on the portable grill or above that campfire prepare. You can also find Dutch oven accessories here.
Do you want to rent a motorhome? Then you will find information here as well as booking options. Or do you prefer to travel with a roof tent on the car? Also the overnight stay in camping tents is possible.
Check our packing list for campers to see whether you have packed everything for your motorhome tour.
Practical accessories for camping trips here.
Why is a folding e-bike useful when camping?

Red barns and farmhouses like in Bullerbü and Lönneberga

Bullerbü and Lönneberga are difficult to find

But far from it! Neither device found the address. Our own satnav led us into ever more remote forest paths until we finally stumbled over old, bumpy forest paths through dense forest. "That can really no longer be true," I said to Petar. “Let's try the sat nav in the car.” No sooner said than done. We re-enter the address we received from our hosts. And amazingly, it sent us exactly the same way, just the other way! We drove through two small villages that we had crossed an hour earlier. However, there was no one to be seen in them we could have asked for directions. Then we stood again in front of the sign that we had seen earlier. This showed us the same way back in the direction from which we just came. Somehow the devil was in the details here - or was it Pippi behind the next bush?

Finally in Asens By - or is it Bullerbü and Lönneberga?

"This time we only rely on the sign," I said to Petar. And again we drove the same way, only this time stubbornly along the road until we got to Haurida. There finally a tiny sign pointed to the right on a gravel road, at the sight of which I thought again: "Hopefully we are right here." Again the path was more of a forest road, at the end of which a youth hostel was announced. We drove past a small exit that we didn't pay close attention to.

When there was no further sign pointing to Asens By, this exit came back to my mind. So said and done. We turned around again and at this point drove out into a parking lot. It was certainly easier to find Bullerbü and Lönneberga than Asens By. Opposite there was a gate in one of those unusual wooden fences that are often seen in Smaland. And next to it I saw an inconspicuous sign that said something I couldn't see from the parking lot. We approached it curiously - and Eureka! - It said that the museum was open until 17.00 p.m. Only that we stood in front of it at 17.15:XNUMX pm! But at least! We finally found Asens By.

The doors are already closed in Asens By

Pippi and Michel say hello to Asen By

Now I had had enough of the jokes and just tried to see if the gate opened. And indeed! This time we were lucky! We followed the path up the mountain and after the red barn, which was one of the few buildings that could be seen from the street, we found a whole village of old Smaland farmhouses that had been rebuilt at this point.

Sure, the reception of the museum was closed in the meantime, but on the other hand we had the village with its scattered red farmhouses almost to ourselves and could explore it to our liking. We felt a little like Michel and Pippi or the children of Bullerbü and Lönneberga while driving through the farming village, which was so difficult to find. That must have been the life Astrid Lindgren describes in her books. And who knows, maybe Pippi somehow had a hand in our wandering to Asens?

You should take this with you on a trip to Asens By:

A backpack, in which you store everything for a day in the village.
what kind of you Picnic need in the village, you can put together here. One lunch box with board we recommend here.
A light rain jacket. The weather can change quickly in the region.
Feasts hiking bootsthat provide support for the joints. It's a lot easier to hike that way. A backpack is also practical.
A Camera* (Advertisement) so that you can still enjoy your experiences in Asens By at home.
In our hiking checklist you can check whether you have packed everything for your hike.
There are barbecue areas in Asens By. That's where ours help Grill tips continue.

Over hill and dale - almost like in Bullerbü and Lönneberga

The Asens By Cultural Reserve

A visit to the Asens By cultural reserve is worthwhile. (Once you've found it. Our tip: just follow the signs and forget the navigation devices.) The village is reminiscent of the time when the farmers of the region still produced everything they needed to live. It's like going back in time. Electricity was never known in some of the houses. The barn smells of hay in summer. The milk cans in front let us look out for the cows that provide the milk for it. They have to laboriously search for their food in the terrain between the boulders that lie everywhere between the grassy areas. We can well imagine how village life in Smaland was once like.

White and red - the typical colors of the houses in Smaland

The Asens By open-air museum – village life as in Bullerbü and Lönneberga

In summer, the farms and meadows are cultivated as they were at the beginning of the 20th century. The grass is cut with a scythe. The cows are milked by hand. The only machine used is a plow to which horses or oxen are harnessed.

The bakery smells like freshly baked bread every day. It is baked in a wood-fired oven according to the old tradition. A visit to Asens By is a journey into the past.

Beautiful in the evening sun - the largest house of Asens

Work like in Bullerbü and Lönneberga

With a bit of luck you can even help with work in Asens By. There are days when you are shown how to tie sheaves of hay. Or would you rather learn how to mow grass with a scythe? For example, children enjoy a hayride through the meadows. There is also a Christmas market on two weekends during the Christmas season.

In summer it is also nice to take a walk through the orchards to a remote lake. The view over the green hills and fences that are so typical of Smaland gives an impression of what real life in the village once looked like in this agricultural landscape.

Asens By products can be bought in the village shop

If you like, you can also buy the products that are made in the village in the village shop. Honey, jams and the juice from the fruits of the orchards will remind you at home of your visit to the farming village in Smaland.