Staberg_Garden

Gamla Staberg, a flourishing mine-owner’s estate

A close-up view of the garden can be obtained from a plan from 1758. In the 1750s the garden was extended to comprise eight squares. A large number of new fruit trees were also planted. These are marked on the plan as small dots in the square. Yellow sand paths run round the square. Below the orchard is the herb garden where various herbs and vegetables were grown. At the bottom are two
rectangular ponds. In the 18th century it was common to make special ponds for breeding carp.

A long slumber began for the old mine-owner’s estate after the Nauclér family left Staberg in 1820. A large new manor house, Nya “New” Staberg was built in 1840s, south of the garden. The garden was still maintained, however. The old carp ponds were now made semicircular so that they could reflect
the new manor house. After many years of decay, the buildings of Gamla “Old” Staberg were restored by Vika-Hosjö Local History Society in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1965 the estate was listed as a
historic building.

Plan of the Staberg garden from 1758

The Garden, which is administered and maintained jointly by the Vika-Hosjö Local History Society and
the owners of Nya Staberg, Lotta and Ivan Örtendahl, is open to visitors, both individually and in groups.

The manor house
of Nya Staberg

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A stroll around Gamla Staberg can start from the red houses of the main court, with the dwelling house in the middle.
The east wing now contains a small history museum. In the little building to the north there is an 18th century privy that is worth seeing. If you continue to the north you can see the stone walls that enclosed the middle court and the animal yard.
The central axis continues with a road up to the hill north of the estate. A cobbled ramp and a cellar pit mark the northern limit of the estate.

The orchard spreads out in four terraces south of the dwelling house. Growing in eight square on the
terraces are about sixty old Swedish varieties of fruit trees. Some varieties peculiar to Dalarna, such as Gubbäpple and Sniläpple, survive here.

The kitchen garden or herb garden comes next. It was laid out according to the 18th century model, with long, narrow raised beds. Cabbage and other kitchen plants common in the 18th century are grown here.

Some hop-poles west of the kitchen garden probably survive from the hop-gardens that Staberg had in 1753.

The two ponds today form a round water mirror, but in the 18th century they may have been rectangular. They provided the estate with carp. You get a good overall view of the estate from the slope up towards Nya Staberg.

When visiting Gamla Staberg please respect the following rules:

Do not walk in the plantations
Do not pick fruit or other plants
You may walk in the courtyard of Gamla Staberg, but remember that the buildings are used as homes