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| Entrance to castle yard. |
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| green-veined cabbage |
In the summer-season is it lovely to visit one of the many fine castle parks in the country. I like to walk in a pretty park with soft green lawns and old trees - and there is always a shady place with a bench in the warm sun. In the park at Vallø Castle are many fine and beautiful old trees and also rare trees, like a gingko tree, which I had never seen before. And others, foreign to the Danish landscape, like
Hjertetræ, (Cersiphyllum, commonly called Katsura, from Japan and China),
Vingevalnød, (Caucasian wingnut);
ægte Tulipantræ (Liriodendron tulipifera = American tuliptree, yellow poplar)
Manna-ask (Manna-ash) and many more. In the castle moat were yellow water-lily and flowering rush. A heron stood beside the little duck-house, which was far too small for him, but I suppose he was waiting for a fish. Some ducks were swimming among the water-lilies, sometimes almost walking upon their large leaves. A green-veined cabbage and a red admiral butterfly were seen. The bees were humming in the mid-day sun, and it was a lovely place to be.
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| ducks among yellow water-lilies |
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| Red Admiral |
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| flowering rush |
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| Heron in the moat | |
The park lies like a pretty frame around the castle. It was landscaped in the 1700s in French style and from that time are still some old yew trees behind one of the lakes. They were plant out in order to give shelter to the orangeries. Later was the park changed into an English landscape park . At that time it was fashion to collect rare trees in the parks.
The Vallø estate is actually one large coherent landscape, where extensive fields, solitary trees and lime avenues alternate with forests and meadows. It is one of Denmark's prettiest manor landscapes with a castle, a castle-town, an impressive park and a deer park, which was totally listed in 1981. The Renaissance castle was built by Mette Rosenkrantz in the 1580s. South of the castle, which was bought by the king in 1708 and in 1739 made into a royal residence for daughters of the nobility, lies a small town with yellow-chalked employee-homes. Here is Vallø Castle-Inn and the old horse-stable, which is a history-museum of the castle and the local area.
Vallø castle is the natural center of the diocese. As the castle looks today its history goes back to the middle of the 1500s. In 1893 was a castle fire caused by a candle, no one was seriously hurt but incredible cultural values burst into flames. The walls of the castle were not damaged, but everything else burnt out.
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| Overgrown moat |
The rebuilding of the castle lasted 10 years. The red castle-section, which was earlier a royal residence, has now 9 apartments for the ladies of the diocese. The white building (The White Stift) , which held all the apartment for the ladies, is now furnished in only two apartments.
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| Castle Inn |
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| In the castle town |
Close to the castle is the castle town with a Castle Inn and a museum in the old horse stable, which shows an exhibition of the history of the castle and the local area. Nearby is a fine camping place with cabins, close to the sea and to the town Køge. The park is open to visitors from 8.00 till sunset. The castle is not open to visitors, since it is a private home, but the castle yard is open for visitors between 10.00-18.00. there is a parking place east of the castle.
Source: Politikens store Danmarksbog; Se dit land Danmark, Vallø Stift.
photo Vallø July 2007: grethe bachmann
