The Astrologer’s Island / A Guide to Ven

What makes islands interesting are their distinct boundaries; it’s always clear where they begin and end, the demarcation between life on the island and life outside is obvious; impossible to question.

Perhaps that’s why islands are considered mythical places; the lack of easy access creates an island culture, different from that of the mainland.

Arriving at Ven (formerly spelled Hven) is always a special experience; the ferry from Landskrona docks quickly in the small harbour Bäckviken.

First, the few cars drive off the ferry,, and then the pedestrians are allowed to go ashore. The crossing is short, approximately 30 minutes, and you never lose sight of the land – on the contrary, you will slowly pass both Borstahusen and Ålabodarna, two of the quaintest of the old fishing villages on this coast, before the ferry finally approaches Ven.

Bäckaviken is little more than a cluster of houses, built of local bricks, and with beautiful glass verandas facing the Sound. But it’s also the place where Landsvägen (literally, “the Country Road”) begins, traversing the island and connecting one side with the other.

The walk up Landsvägen is a gentle slope. After a few hundred metres, you reach the rental bikes (which can only be booked online, and at least a day in advance).

But Ven, which can best be described as a large plateau, is only 4.5 kilometres long and 2.5 kilometres wide (with an area of ​​7.5 km²), so a bike isn’t really necessary.

The island’s location between the two shores of the Sound – on one side Denmark and on the other Sweden –creates a mild microclimate, which combined with its nutritious soil, has made Ven intimately associated with high-quality food and drink.

Since 2008, Spirit of Hven has been distilling world-class spirits. When the distillery first opened, it was one of the world’s smallest pot still distilleries, doing everything from mashing to fermentation, distillation, oak barrel aging. and bottling.

Today, their whisky, vodka, gin and aquavit are exported to around 40 countries, based on long fermentation times and several combinations of their own fermentations. The distillery’s great advantage is its small size, which provides excellent conditions for extracting maximum aroma and flavour.

Tired after the spirit tasting? There are comfortable hotel rooms to sleep in, each with its own patio. Dogs are also welcome guests. There’s also a restaurant, open all year, serving season-based food made from locally sourced ingredients, and of course it also comes complete with a whisky bar.

Spirit of Hven have become best known for their interesting whisky varieties. One of the best is Stjerneborg, an organic single malt blended from 18 casks,12 of which are unsmoked malt casks and 6 are whisky aged to 35 ppm phenols.

The casks are of mixed origin; six are made from American air-dried chinkapin and the rest are made from French mountain oak (previously used in northern Italy to make red wine and dessert wine).

The name “Stjerneborg” is a variation of Stjärneborg (in English “Star Castle”), which was once Tycho Brahe’s underground observatory, at Uraniborg Castle, near Tuna village, at Ven’s highest point, 45 meters above sea level. Its six brick rooms were built in the 1580s, when Brahe considered Uraniborg too be insufficient for his needs.

The Brahe Influence

Ven is forever associated with Tycho Brahe. Born into one of the most distinguished of the Danish noble families, he worked as an astronomer, astrologer and alchemist, and is considered one of Europe’s most prominent scientists of all time.

King Frederick II granted Ven to Brahe, to lure him to stay in Denmark. However, Brahe was not popular on Ven, tensions between him and the local farmers were high, and after his death the farmers demolished his castle and used the stones to build their own barns and houses.

A story with a more positive ending involving the Brahe family’s presence in the area is how his sister, Sophie Ottesdatter Brahe, after a turbulent and international life, settled on a farm in Elsinore. In September 1629, she sent 20 tulip bulbs to Johan Eriksson Sparre at Bolmeröd in Småland, together with instructions on how to plant them.

This was the first time that tulips were mentioned in Scandinavian literary history, which suggests that Ottesdatter Brahe was the one who introduced tulips into the Nordic flora. By doing so, she changed the style of gardens in this region for ever, affecting everything from the strict geometry of the Renaissance courtyards to today’s organically shaped flowerbeds.

Traces of the Brahe family can be found in many places on the island, but the conflicts between them and the locals have long been forgotten. Instead, many of the island’s 370 current permanent residents drive their golf carts crisscrossing the island.

The island is so small that it makes little sense to drive a car (although there are buses), so many of those who live or have summer houses here, have instead chosen small electric jeeps as a means of transport, which underscores the small-scale and unique nature of Ven.

Food, Drinks, and Alpacas

Just before you reach the Tycho Brahe Museum, which you will get to if you follow along Landsvägen – housed in the Allhelgonakyrkan, a beautiful church building – there’s a sign advertising Pumpans café, serving vegetarian pizzas, pancakes, and pastries under the leafy trees of Tunagården.

Don’t miss the homemade apple juice. The wines are organic, and the coffee is ground when the guest orders.

Another place to try is Mitt på Hven (which means “The middle of Ven”), the only place in the world where you can order beer from Island Brewery Hven; a lager locally grown and produced at their own brewery.

If you continue along the road a few minutes farther, passing the museum, you’ll arrive at Hven Durum. Durum wheat is grown on the island – thanks to the micro climate, one of the few places in Sweden where it’s possible to grow the wheat – and the bakery (run by Britta Ossier) sells both bread and pastries in the most idyllic of settings. They also sell coffee and tea, if you want to stay a bit.

Close by, in Turistgården, is also where you’ll find House of Ven, a restaurant that also functions as one of the island’s few hotels. It’s a historic building that for a long time has offered simple but comfortable accommodations.

Under the supervision of Kathrin Baake Litnander, outdoor dining is offered, based on locally grown and produced produce. A couple of minutes’ walk further down the road you will reach Tuna krog.

I grew up not far from here. During my childhood, Ven was a place I rarely visited but often longed to go to. In winter, the island was considered too cold, so you could only see it from the mainland.

Every year, I had to wait until spring came, but once summer returned, we would go again.

The first thing you do when you get off the boat is to visit the kiosk in Bäckviken, which serves ice cream, made with organic cream and produced in Hvens Glassfabrik, only 200 metres from the harbour.

My parents had close friends who owned a house on the island, and once they bought a painting I had painted, a still life of fruit in a bowl, and every time I am on Ven I wonder if the painting – that I made when I was about ten years old – is still hanging on their kitchen wall.

A few years ago, a close friend turned 40. To celebrate, she rented a large farm near Bäckviken, where we drank wine in the garden, and for dinner she brought pizzas from Pumpans Café.

In the evening, we went down to the beach and lit lanterns in her honour.

Earlier in the day, we had visited Hven Alpacka, the island’s only alpaca farm, located near the island’s eastern coast, just around the corner from Bäckviken. We had each gone for a walk with an alpaca; for almost two hours we walked around the island while learning about the cultural history, benefits and care of the alpaca. I still rememeber the stories:

The alpaca originally comes from the Andes Mountains in South America. The indigenous population preferred animals with white fur, which was easier to dye. When the Spanish invaded the Inca Empire, the alpaca population was decimated, but those that survived now came in more varied colours, which is why on Ven today, there are alpacas in all possible colours and shades. Their (undyed) fur is turned into yarn, sold at local markets.

On the other side of the island, at the very end of Landsvägen, lies St. Ibb’s Church (in English: the Church of St. Jacob). Its oldest parts date back to the 13th century (and the altarpiece was a gift from Tycho Brahe).

Standing on top of the church hill, you’ll have a view of the Danish east coast, if the skies are clear, you can see all the way to Copenhagen.

You’re also close to the most dramatic parts of Backafallen, the narrow strip that runs around almost the entire coast of the island, consisting of both steep hills and soft, green-covered slopes.

In the summer there’s a small waffle bakery below the church, and it is on this side of the island that you want to be when the sun sets over the Sound.