Back home on my own patch, though I still feel justified in milking our recent sojourn in Sweden for another post.
In 1706 Kräkmyren was dammed to divert its water to the Falun Mine. Sweden was then at war with Russia, and Russian prisoners of war are said to have built the earthbank. Over the centuries it filled with silt, and what began as a lake gradually became the Big Marsh.
What struck me most about Sweden was the freedom they enjoy in their countryside. They can wander, camp, pick berries, or ski across land that does not belong to them, provided of course they respect both nature and property. This remarkable liberty is called Allemansrätten—literally, “the everyman’s right,” or more poetically, “the freedom to roam.”1ALLEMANSRÄTTEN, THE FREEDOM TO ROAM – Swedishness https://swedishness.ch/blogs/news/allemansratten#:~:text=Allemansr%C3%A4tten%20is%20a%20Swedish%20term,of%20who%20owns%20the%20land.
It is not some modern invention but a survival from the Middle Ages, when peasants had rights to gather wood, graze animals, and fish. Over centuries it grew to embrace walking, camping, and foraging, and today it is enshrined in law and cherished as part of Swedish culture. The principle is simple: “do not disturb, do not destroy.”
Allemansrätten stretches across forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. Yet there are limits. You may not light fires during droughts, or drive vehicles into protected areas. Military sites and private gardens are, unsurprisingly, off-limits.
It is a vision of freedom rooted in trust. How different from England, where even if landowners opened up their patch, the principle would falter. Too many here treat the countryside as a dumping ground rather than a shared treasure.
- 1ALLEMANSRÄTTEN, THE FREEDOM TO ROAM – Swedishness https://swedishness.ch/blogs/news/allemansratten#:~:text=Allemansr%C3%A4tten%20is%20a%20Swedish%20term,of%20who%20owns%20the%20land.
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