A little hide-away

I’ve been keeping something from you. A little secret. Hidden away in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere with lots of room outside, but not so much inside. Enough for simple needs: a fireplace, a small kitchen and living space and two tiny bedrooms.

Somewhere with a huge garden to get lost in and exciting trees and hidey-holes to explore. And even a little guest cottage with its own deck where you can stay; and where you can sparkle and dazzle in the candlelight for the guest wing has no electricity.

And what’s this? The quaint little wash house with a sauna, shower and dry earth closet. (Toilet paper in the basket, please!)

You see, dear reader, we have decided to rent a summer cottage in a tiny neighbourhood with four or five gravel paths – in the middle of the woods. But just a 45-minute drive from where we live. A bumpy drive down a two-kilometre lane will, I hope, take us to the shores of a lake with crystal clear water for swimming.

Many  Swedes like to get away from it all by going to their summer places with no electricity or running water and just relax. We’re not going totally native as our rented place will have water in May (optimistically known as ‘turning on the summer water’) and there is electricity in the main cottage.

Oh – what’s that? No, you have to bring your own dogs along as they are not included in the rental!