The second leg of our Scandi tour visits the forests following in the footsteps of real and fictional characters Scandi tour: part one Scandi tour: part one I get off the train in Snekkersten, a small coastal town 50km north of Copenhagen. The conductor has already warned me there will be nothing open: no food, no drink, no taxis. She is right. It is late at night. Really late. Close to midnight. I walk past the sleeping houses and along the beach. It is quiet down there. At my hotel, the Villa Brinkly I find my room key inside an envelope pinned to the front door the key securely stored – in the bike’s lock It’s amazing how quickly you can relax into that – and wish the whole planet could be the same I am on the second week of my Scandinavian summer now cycling around the coasts of Sealand (aka Zealand) where there is a new national park to explore after a superb and much-needed breakfast in the hotel’s sunny morning room I load up my bicycle and set out from the back of the hotel I am immediately launched on to a well-made trail through a shady beech forest where deer stand in patches of sunlight and red squirrels stare down from above The desk where Out of Africa and Babette’s Feast were written is there as are Blixen’s travelling trunk and letters So too, reportedly, is the nearby Louisiana Museum of Modern Art but in the heat I choose the meadow by the beach dotted with picnicking families That evening I eat fish and chips sitting on the harbour wall in Espergærde and these offer an easy way to save money in what is the most affordable of the Scandinavian countries a great square bastion with copper-clad towers the castle where William Shakespeare set Hamlet The bard never visited Elsinore (the anglicised name), but his friend and colleague Will Kempe certainly did when King Frederick II was celebrating the complete transformation of his medieval fortress into a Renaissance palace These days there are no ghosts on the battlements just great views and a lively cast of actors The Maritime Museum next door is less satisfying: the building is a bold conversion of an old dry dock but the thematic displays are thin on content is free: views of heritage boats assembled in front of a cafe with narrow streets packed with fascinating and colourful buildings standing in clifftop splendour close to the town of Gilleleje Fortunately my cycling notes point out to me that it “has an anchor outside” The North Sealand coast has quiet beaches perfect for cyclingThe park covers 323 sq km and is so new (inaugurated this spring) that as yet it has no signage but I’m not sure the Danes would go in for them anyway I abandon the main trail to explore side routes discovering groves of twisted ancient trees and then emerge suddenly into the magnificent gardens of Frederiksborg Castle Here the ornate intricacies of the formal gardens are replicated in the interior designs a reminder that Denmark was once both a great monarchy and a colonial power (at various times it held Frederiksborg castle Photograph: AlamyA royal castle is a curious spot at which to end my time in Denmark a country that seems so defiantly against all privilege Some might find the Danish countryside a bit lacking in drama: there are no soaring mountains or dizzying gorges What it offers is an opportunity to travel in a happy country or at least one that is significantly more content than most The pleasure of that leaves a lasting impression and raises all sorts of intriguing questions to while away my onward ferry journey to Sweden Is it the lack of garish advertising and the quiet insistence on self-reliance Or maybe it is nothing more than the gentle good-natured buzz of their commonsensical society better than anything from a touristy gift shop – which is handy not even a tiny gift bottle of liquefied hygge The trip was provided by Inntravel whose four-night cycling tour of North Sealand costs from £715 (including four nights’ accommodation There are flights to Copenhagen with budget airlines from several UK airports Looking for a holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays now to find a range of fantastic trips It might be the best year ever for the Espergaerde Vineyard in Eindhoven Harro de Cocq is a hobby farmer who grows wine grapes on a small scale on the Volkstuinvereniging (People’s Garden Association) Blixembosch on Esp “We had a record year in 2016 already The Eindhoven resident has about 50 vines and three kinds of grapes that are all looking beautiful dry weather is a disaster because their crops are suffering heavily and are likely to fail Only the young plants are having a hard time now” De Cocq is not yet celebrating because if it rains and hails suddenly Harro de Cocq’s wines have already won prizes The Eindhoven resident’s 2016 Robuust Rood (Robust Red) was recently named best red wine of Brabant It received this prize during the Brabant winegrowers 2018 red wines judging Because even though the Eindhoven wines are not for sale in stores De Cocq’s hobby is craving more space The winegrower has already looked for pieces of land in Best Eindhoven has a wine guild in which the hobby farmers are united “I am one of the youngest in the guild now but what the guild and I are hoping is that thanks to the good weather and the popularity of Dutch wine the number of members is going to increase” Volkstuinvereniging Blixembosch on Esp has three hobby farmers who grow grapes and make wine more people are working on winemaking in the region In Veldhoven and Aalst-Waalre there are a few wine growers it is still not comparable to the French wine growers despite the growing popularity of the Dutch wine Source: www.studio040.nl and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker