During our two-week trip to Sweden in June we celebrated our first wedding anniversary (on the summer solstice), and to do so in style, we booked two nights ‘glamping’ out in the Swedish countryside.

After going on my first ever wildlife holiday, anywhere, in the Bergslagen area of Central Sweden in 2009, I’ve always wanted to go back and I found that the same local company that ran that trip offers a whole range of wildlife and nature-focused breaks and holidays. After looking through the options, we decided on camping near Kloten.

The Kloten Lakeside Camp comprises only four individual bell-tents on wooden platforms at the edge of a large lake. Each tent has a double bed, small woodburning stove, bedside tables, chairs and blankets. Outside on the deck are a dining table and chairs, and two very lovely reclined wooded rocking chairs. Each tent also has its own individual compost toilet. Due to the long-lasting dry weather in that part of Sweden, outdoor fires have been prohibited, therefore the fire pit wasn’t available to us, unfortunately.

The camp is located at Kloten Nature Resort, shown in the map below, and the tents are on the east coast of the lake just north of the long, thin island in the centre of the map below.

As we arrived, we were met in reception and after a cold drink (on what was a warm day) we were taken to our tent via a 15-minute boat ride and given an introduction on the way. After we were dropped off with our luggage (we were told we had actually packed lightly, which came as a bit of a surprise) we unpacked and settled in. However, on what was a lovely afternoon, we couldn’t stay still for long. Each tent comes with its own Canadian canoe and we took it for a quick spin around the nearby shoreline of the lake. On our return we took a dip and swam in the lake, cooling us down in the warm late afternoon. However, the weather soon changed as the rain came in and we had to retreat to our tent for much of the evening.

Our evening meal, along with our breakfast for the first morning, was brought by boat, and we heated the former on the very efficient stove in the tent. We started with salmon rolls, followed by large pieces of salmon with potatoes and vegetables, and finished off with cheese cake; all very delicious.

The rain relented after dinner and we spent a little time outside but unfortunately there was no sunset over the lake. We went to bed listening to the calls of a nearby cuckoo. This made the perfect end to our first anniversary; on our wedding day and our first anniversary, we both woke and went to sleep to the sound of cuckoos and one called throughout the wedding ceremony itself. The cuckoo really is our ‘wedding’ bird!

We woke early the next morning. Sun rises at just after 3:30am in this part of Sweden around the summer solstice and the tent canvas did little to keep the light out. Exiting the tent, we were welcomed by morning very different to the previous evening; a clear day of blue sky and sunshine.  We looked up to see three ospreys circling overhead, with two of them making their ‘chipping’ alarm call, perhaps trying to ward off the third intruding osprey. 

After a typical Swedish breakfast of yoghurt, fruit, breads and jam, eggs and ham, we decided to go for a longer canoe. Our lunch arrived mid-morning and we loaded it into the canoe and headed out onto the water. The lake was actually a series of large lakes connected by narrower straights of water. We paddled out for about two miles, moving in and out of little inlets and across the wider sections of lake. We came across a family of black-throated divers, with the parents escorting on little chick and shepherding it away behind an island. The wind started to pick up so we decided to head back but stopped off at the side of the lake for our lunch.

Despite the strong wind, it was lovely spending the late afternoon on the front of the platform over the water. Our dinner arrived along with the last breakfast and we tucked into a beef stir fry, again heated on the tent’s woodburning stove. That evening, we were treated to a proper sunset with the sky glowing orange as the sun dipped behind the tree-covered far shore of the lake.

In the morning we took a final dip in a calmer lake before breakfast, then packed and relaxed before we were picked up in the boat at 11:00am.

The whole experience was fantastic, spending time in the Swedish wilds, swimming, canoeing, watching the wildlife or simply relaxing. The tent was provided with some extra things to keep us busy including a couple of small wooden dalahäst (dales horse), and a knife to whittle them further, and a polaroid camera to take snaps of the stay and an album to stick them in.

Before we went, we were slightly worried there might be a mosquito problem and that it might actually be quite busy being part of a ‘resort’. We needn’t have worried on either count. We didn’t see a single mosquito the whole time we were there, despite there being quite a few where we were staying for the rest of our time in Sweden. The only other people we saw or heard the entire time we were there were a few canoeists paddling past, some distance away. Even if the other three tents had been occupied, they are far enough away that I doubt they would cause any disturbance or interrupt your privacy. 

Overall, the experience was not at all cheap but worth every penny – both the big things and the little things made it. We will remember it for all the things mentioned above but also for the sights of groups of black-throated drivers flying and swimming past the tent, and the sound of their haunting calls echoing over the lake – magical!

The trip was booked through WildSweden with a link to the webpage here.