Places to stay
The Red Greenhouse: A House to Share, a Harvest to Enjoy
Outside Skänninge in Östergötland, a private country house brings the vegetable garden to the table. I came away thinking that this is exactly the kind of luxury Sweden should have more of.
By Lina Skandevall
Published
When I arrived at The Red Greenhouse in September 2025, there was a basket of freshly harvested vegetables waiting, along with local cheese and butter. Ingredients for dinner, with the fields that produced much of it just outside. A rather good way to introduce a place.
This is a house to hire with people you want to spend time with. The kitchen opens into an orangery, the countryside presses close to the glass, and there is room to gather around a proper table. It has the comfort I look for in a good hotel, with something much more personal about the way you stay.
The garden is part of the stay
Magdalena Hermelin, the woman behind Hermelins Grönsaker and The Red Greenhouse, has brought the growing and the staying unusually close together. The vegetables are not simply a view from the window. During my visit, we were welcome to pick what we wanted to eat and take some home too.
There were ducks outside, sunflowers and corn moving in the wind. Inside, flowers carried the season through the rooms. The house felt connected to its surroundings in ways both generous and practical: local craftspeople had contributed to it, and stone came from Borghamn.
The invitation to cook from the garden remains part of the offering today, with what is available depending on the season. You can use the indoor kitchen or move outside to the outdoor kitchen. A chef can also be arranged. That seems a sensible division of labour for a holiday: cook if that is your pleasure, and make other arrangements if it is not.
A breakfast with its own geography
My breakfast had granola, bread and a croissant from Open New Doors, alongside Hermelins. There were vegetables from the farm, butter from Löt Gårdsmejeri and local apple juice. Even the melon had been grown here.
This is my kind of breakfast. The pleasure is in the care taken over each part, and in knowing how close much of it has come from. Much of the crockery was locally made too. The same attention ran from the food to the things it was served on.
On that visit, breakfast was included, while dinner and a chef were separate arrangements. Those details are worth checking for your own booking; my breakfast is a memory of September 2025, rather than a promise of a fixed menu.
Space for company, and for quiet
There is a sauna and there were two pools beside the house when I stayed. Best of all, for me, there was no bubbling. I like being able to hear the quiet. The colourful interiors felt harmonious, with plants and natural materials making the transition between indoors and outdoors seem effortless.
The house is currently offered for exclusive use, with four bedrooms sleeping up to eight people. You share it with your own party. It is worth looking at the bedroom arrangements before deciding who goes where: the upstairs Early Veg room has no private toilet or shower, and the owners describe it as best suited to children or agile guests.
I have stayed in places with this sort of approach abroad, and would love to see more of them in Sweden. A comfortable house, thoughtful food, nature close by and time together: there is a great deal of luxury in getting those things right. Here, the vegetable fields are part of what makes that possible.
Planning a stay
The Red Greenhouse is at Fallsbergs gård, outside Skänninge in Östergötland. It is booked as a whole house. Check the room layout, seasonal produce and meal arrangements when booking.
For current details and enquiries, visit The Red Greenhouse’s official website.