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Vargaslätten – garden and museum

Vargaslätten is a legendary, landscaped woodland garden that began being designed in 1917. Sigfrid Ericson brought back plants from his travels around the world and planted them in different areas of the garden. Vargaslätten is comprised of three parts: the woodland garden, a museum and a plant nursery.

The woodland garden Vargaslätten in Halmstad

The woodland garden. Photo: Judit Hetzold

The woodland garden

The garden at Vargaslätten (Swe) External link, opens in new window. is based on local Halland woodland. Natural forest has been sensitively landscaped into a cultivated garden. Ponds were dug, streams were redirected and walls were built to separate wild meadowland from planted areas, and rocks were arranged into flowerbeds. Sigfrid is reported to have said, “The wonders of nature appear as if they were simply meant to be, and so do the works of human hands when the results are successful.”

To visit the garden, you must book a ticket for a guided tour. Individual tickets can be booked during selected periods. Keep an eye out for guided tours in the events calendar or on Vargaslätten’s website. Large groups can contact Vargaslätten directly to book tickets.

Sigfrid Ericsson Museum

At the Sigfrid Ericson Museum (Swe), External link, opens in new window. you can learn more about Sigfrid, the garden’s architect. He designed furniture, houses, gardens, graves, churches and residential quarters all around the Swedish west coast. Within a radius of 150 kilometres from Gothenburg, there’s hardly a village, town or church that he hasn’t been associated with or involved in designing. The building that houses the Sigfrid Ericson Museum has a traditional timber frame construction in a modern guise. There are plans to open a small café in the museum. You can visit the museum even when the woodland garden is closed.

Gerbianska Trädgården – plant shop and nursery

At Gerbianska Trädgården (Swe), External link, opens in new window. you can browse through hundreds of plants from the shop and nursery. The plant shop is independent and separated from the woodland garden by a fence. The nursery is run by Dutch gardener Gerben Tjeerdsma, who worked at the Gothenburg Botanical Garden for 17 years. After 9 years at Råda Säteri manor, he moved his nursery, Gerbianska Trädgården, to Vargaslätten in Simlångsdalen in 2019. Gerbianska Trädgården has varying opening hours, and is often open when the museum and woodland garden are closed.

The woodland garden Vargaslätten in Halmstad

The woodland garden. Photo: Judit Hetzold

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