Wij Trädgårdar

A destination for your senses. For you who want to experience and learn about gardening, nature, art, crafts and food – or if you just want to make a trip to a lovely spot in the middle of the Swedish landscape.

Wij Gardens in Ockelbo is an innovative and modern garden which has been formed from a rural project situated in a glade in the forest. Here, modern garden art made from local materials is brought together with forestry and farming cultural landscapes. Gardener Lars Krantz has mostly given the gardens their content and essence. Wij Gardens today are open to visitors which, when in season, also offers exhibitions, concerts, events and guided tours – with the luxury of overnight stays and food. The restaurant serves beautifully tasting garden buffets and offers stately afternoon tea and nibbles. In the heart of the rose garden, guests can stay overnight in the refined garden house, with a stunning view over the gardens, mountains and the lake.

In one sense, the gardens are young, however, the different sections lie interspersed in a historical, cultural landscape with an origin in traditional ironworks and farming. Wij gardens has a special and distinct structure by virtue of the different sections embedded within the gardens, which have developed from the landscape and partly comprises of a large rose garden configured by Simon Irvine with hundreds of hardy rose varieties. In one of the fields lies the forest garden which is Wij Gardens pride and joy, a piece of modern gardening art. It was Ulf Nordfjell who was commissioned by Lars Krantz to celebrate the wild nature that surrounds the glade where Ockelbo is situated. The result became a piece of poetry where, among other things, the forest, ponds, marshlands and the forest’s edge have been styled and interpreted with horticultural help.

Other gardens include the kitchen garden with decorative rows of summer flowers and vegetables, the herb garden which weaves together age-old knowledge about plants and herbs in pretty combinations and the children’s garden where the entire family is welcome to come and experience the gardening world and be close to nature.

For a number of years now, Wij Gardens houses a gardening education. It is carried out solely on site at Wij Gardens and the students design and cultivate their own plots of land every year. These plots are very popular and appreciated because of their experimental and pleasurable experiences which contribute to the overall impression of Wij Gardens.

“This is a garden that should be seen, inhaled, tasted and listened to. People say they can even feel it.” Lars Krantz

At Wij Gardens you will also find a restaurant, two cafés, boutiques, exibitions, a carpentry, traditional farm animals and lots more!