CastlesandfortsinEurope - Vaxjo

Beautiful Huseby Bruk shows you a bygone era. Go for a stroll in the park and gardens, and visit the well-preserved castle. At the old ironworks, the stories of the 1800s are told over and over again. The main building at Huseby is reverently called the castle. Many remember Ms Stephens, the last owner of Huseby. In her last will and testament, she wrote that everything should be preserved for coming generations to take part in. The interior decor remains, and much of it comes from her parents’ time and up until the middle of the 1800s. The Stephens family were close to the royal house and sometimes had royal visitors at Huseby Bruk. The park and garden have been recreated in their 19th-century form. Much was documented – even shopping lists for seeds. The park is characterised by ‘embroidered’ flower beds that Miss Stephens’s mother Elisabeth Stephens designed. But the kitchen garden might be the best thing about Huseby - it is a real utility garden that used to supplied the work's gentry with vegetables, fruit and berries. It was designed with nine areas and follows a model from older times. Ms Stephens loved different breeds of hens and today, too, there are hens and peacocks to look at. https://www.visitsmaland.se/en/experiences/culture-and-history/huseby

Kronobergs Slott is a medieval castle ruin, picturesquely situated on a bankside island in the lake Helgasjön. It is located about 5 kilometres north of the provincial capital Växjö . The emergence of Kronobergs Slott goes back to the period around 1444 when Bishop Lars Mikaelsson built a fortified residence for the bishops of Växjö. During the Dacke War in 1542/43, Kronobergs Slott was the headquarter of a farmers' army, which was fighting against the troops of the Swedish King Gustav Vasa under the leadership of Nils Dacke, who was honoured as a national hero in Småland. Over the next 200 years, Kronobergs Slott was frequently the subject of military conflicts, because of its function as a border fortification to the former Danish provinces Skåne and Blekinge. During this time, the fortress was burnt down at least twice by Danish troops and rebuilt a bit bigger each time after the reconquests. Today's ruins of the rectangular castle with its four round corner towers are the remains of Kronobergs Slott after the last reconstruction in 1616. After the Danish provinces had finally become Swedish in 1658, the fortress lost its strategic value. It was abandoned and ruined at the end of the 17th century, served as a temporary quarry for building houses in Vaxjö. https://www.guidebook-sweden.com/en/guidebook/destination/kronobergs-slottsruin-castle-ruin-vaexjoe