Photobombed by the British PM

It was Swedish National Day today, which seemed to mean there were lots of strawberries everywhere. It was also the final day of the first test between New Zealand and England at Lords, which meant I was somehow allowed to talk about cricket for a bit.

To celebrate Sweden Day, we drove to a lovely town called Trosa, nicknamed The world’s end. We both fell in love with the place in a way that we didn’t at Bourton on the Water.

The two places are sort of similar. They both have water running through them, they have shops that seem made especially for visitors, both have long sections without cars. Where they differ is that Trosa is delightfully spacious and, as can be seen from the above photo, not crowded.

That’s not to say that there weren’t a lot of people out and about. The day was stunning with temperatures soaring on, what I can only guess, was the hottest day so far this year. In a country where there’s fewer people and more room, I would expect you’re going to be unlucky to find a crowd.

There’s also the fact that no-one is going to swim in the canal. It looks pretty deep and has quite the flow. It’s also used by lots of boats. Anyone foolish enough to dive in would very quickly disappear.

While the path alongside the canal is delightfully traffic free, even the roads that run parallel to it maintain a very slow speed limit. Families strolling along the streets far outnumber the vehicles and the vehicles respect the shared space. It’s the sort of thing they could do with in Farnham.

We had a good wander around, stopping for a light lunch at Ankaret, pub and restaurant. We sat on the terrace with the girls and soaked up the local flavours, including a rather pleasant and refreshing lager.

(Their website is not secure and, therefore, throws up all sorts of warnings, so there’s little point including a link. However, they do have an Instagram account here.)

Having had a lovely lunch, we then walked up to the church which has, in what increasingly seems to be the norm, a detached belfry. Built between 1694-1710, it was originally somewhere else then moved to the present site when the whole town was moved in the 17th century due to post-glacial rebound. This is when, like a see-saw, the removal of the weight of a glacier causes land at the other end to sink.

The church also has a votive ship, but I wasn’t able to find out anything about it. I have read that votive ships in Swedish churches are quite rare, which seems odd because I’ve seen quite a few. Maybe I’ve just been lucky.

Trosa is one of the top four wealthiest communities in Sweden, and it shows. There’s lots of beautiful houses and the few for sale are well beyond a normal budget. I know because Mirinda insists, when we visit somewhere nice, that we go and look at local real estate, so we can imagine living there.

The town has its fair share of famous residents. Among them are the two B’s from ABBA. Actually, originally, my title for this post was going to be 2Bs of Trosa. But then I took a photo looking down the street where the museum sits and was photobombed. I obviously had no choice but to change the title.

It was quite a long trip to Trosa but well worth it. We had a gorgeous day (the weather had a lot to do with it) with ice cream and lots of boats. We were soon on the road, heading back home, where, in honour of Swedish National Day, I made pork and fennel, adorned with little Swedish flags.

Oh, and the first test between New Zealand and England at Lords ended in a rather tense draw. Or so it seemed watching the live updates coming from my phone.