Danmark

Video: Insight into Danish culture: Summerhouses

Summerhouses are a core part of Danish culture. We just love them and they are an essential part of our lives.

There are 220,000 second homes in Denmark: 203,000 summerhouses, 14,000 allotments and 2,300 other types of recreational properties.

44 percent of holiday homes situated in Jutland, 16 percent of Fyn and other islands, while the remaining 40 percent is built on Zealand.

One cottage is an average of 3.5 rooms, a living area of 67 square meters and a land value of 700,000 crowns (2004).

Over half of the country’s homes were built between 1960 and 1979. It was built as many houses in 1973, where also the building of houses boomed.

Summerhouses can be divided into three groups: Over half of higher quality houses are built of wood, a quarter of the second homes are older homes in poor quality, often lacking bath and appropriate heating, while the last group consists of large and expensive homes.

6.8 percent of households in Denmark own a summerhouse. The majority of summerhouses are owned by 50+- generation – especially older couples without children.

Two out of three homes are located more than 50 kilometres from the year-round dwelling, and every third house is more than 100 kilometres away.

84 percent of second homes have a bath, 80 percent of owners can easily heat the house in the winter, almost all (93 percent) have a television, two out of three have a washing machine and /or dishwasher, and one in four have Internet in the summerhouse.

78 percent of owners have a summerhouse to get away from everyday life and relax. Therefore they prefer the house to be in nature or close to the sea.

The video above shows you my mum’s summerhouse in Ebeltoft. It is really lovely and I spend quite a lot of time there…I love being close to the sea and the house is 5 minutes walk from the beach 🙂

Source: Center for Housing and Welfare: ‘Holiday in Denmark. Who has them and how are they used?

Frederiksberg Have (garden) in Copenhagen

Frederiksberg Gardens are laid out as a garden in the romantic style with lots of different paths to walk. It is located in Frederiksberg, which is inside Copenhagen and about 10 minutes from my house.

Coming from the city it is amazing to walk into a huge garden (park) with lawns full of crocuses and daffodils. At the lake is Svendsen’s boating and spectacular views up the hill with Frederiksberg Palace on top. It was from this lake that the popular Frederik VI let himself drive around the canals, while reverent subjects greeted.

Other surprises in the garden is the China Pavilion of 1799, Apis Temple from 1802, Source Grotto, Wish Hill, and the Swiss House from 1801. The buildings, which will give substance to the imagination and thoughts, are hidden in exotic locations. There is also a heron colony and a rose garden.

Frederiksberg garden is an adventure worth experiencing all year around, but right now (spring) and in the summer you will see lots of couples lying around in the sun or walking around the garden on what surely looks like a first date 🙂

Frederiksberg Castle Garden is state owned and maintained by the Palaces and Properties Agency.

It’s snowing in Copenhagen and it’s April!!!!

Snowing in April in Copenhagen
Snowing in April in Copenhagen

Dear diary…While writing this to you, I hope I am still asleep and just having a nightmare. I look outside and it is freezing cold and snowing. This could not possibly be happening in April could it????

Unfortunately I am pretty sure that I am awake and not just having a nightmare. It is actually snowing outside. The picture was taken from my window (a few minutes ago)…huge snowflakes coming down.

Now I don’t know what happened with the global warming. From where I stand it feels like global freezing. I really need some sun and heat 🙂

The spring has finally arrived in Copenhagen

Suntanning on the rooftop terrace
Suntanning on the rooftop terrace

The spring has finally arrived to Copenhagen and I feel ecstatic.

The weather is Copenhagen was 14 degrees today and we had a bright blue sky.

I am so fortunate to have an apartment with access to a beautiful rooftop terrace on which there is always sun and no wind. So today I spent most of the day suntanning and reading on the rooftop terrace.

The trees are also starting to get green leafs, but the wind is cold when you drive on bicycle. So I think I will just stay on my 30 degree warm rooftop terrace and pretend it’s already summer 🙂

“Hygge” – an insigt into Danish culture

Danish "hygge" in the summerhouse

“Hygge” is a very essential issue in Danish culture. There is no literal translation of the word, but when something is “hyggeligt” it is definitely comfortable and cosy.

Different cultures obviously have different views on what is cosy and comfortable – and in this way the Danish definition is rather unique.

“Hygge” is also often associated with the female gender and referred to when women meet or there are women among the people who meet. It is more likely to hear men say that it was fun to meet a friend than “hyggeligt”.

So what does Danish “hygge” entail. Well a lot of times it involves food – whether this being snack food or dinner or cakes. Generally we enjoy ourselves and feel cosy when we eat. It also covers things like: candles, dim light, fireplace, intimate atmosphere (anywhere) and a lot of other things (add more yourself :-))

So when you visit Denmark just remember that one of the main things for us is that a social gathering has to be “hyggelig”.

“Hygge” (written like this is also slang for goodbye).

No television (TV) – saves me 3 hours a day in Denmark

I have not had a TV for many years already and this has led to the funniest comments from friends and acquaintances over the years. The most common comment being: “What do you do with your time?”

While living together with Thomas I used to answer “we argue”. It was an ironic joke to illustrate that there are many things to do besides watching TV. Instead of watching TV we used to have long dinners and talk, hang out with friends, write articles for the website or make pod-casts and videos, do sports, read books, go on trips on the motorbikes and many other things. Needless to say we would have had even more activities if we had children with whom I am sure we would have wanted to spend as much time as possible.

In Denmark I get exactly the same question when people visit me for the first time. They enter my living room and say “Where is the TV?” and are very surprised when I say that I don’t have a TV. I rarely find enough time to do all the things I want to in a day – I really don’t need a TV to clutter up more time.

But I do often wonder how people find time to watch TV? Most people I know tell me that they are really busy and it is normal in Denmark to arrange to meet up with friends at least a week in advance – to make sure that both parts have the time. Interesting.

According to statistics from 2009, Danish people watched TV on average 3 hours and 2 minutes a day: http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Indland/2009/10/14/180601.htm

The article suggests that people watched more TV in 2009 than 2008 because the selection of TV programmes were bigger and that the financial crisis kept people at home instead of spending time out.
But I honestly don’t think this is the reason. I think it comes down to habit. Danish people are simply used to being entertained by the TV instead of spending an evening playing games with their spouse and children, reading books, going for a walk, talking, creative activities like painting, listening to music etc.

And really I think it’s fine that people entertain themselves with the TV – I just hope it is not at the expense of other things.

I guess the best way to evaluate an activity is to ask “Does this activity enrich my life today and will I look back at it in 10 years and think that it enriched my life?

And in the case of TV – “Does watching TV enrich my life today and will I look back at it in 10 years and think that spending more than 1095 hours a year (10.950 hours in 10 years) watching TV enriched my life?

Enjoy life.

Amager Fælled: The green get-away in Amager and Ørestad, Copenhagen

On this cold afternoon, in a month that should be spring, I went for a long walk with my darling sister and gorgeous niece in Amager Fælled.

Amager Fælled is a nice, swampy nature reserve where you can walk, run and cycle and enjoy a break from the traffic on Amager and the new constructions in Ørestad.

The place originally served as a shooting range for the military, when they trained in gun use, but was abandoned in 1956 for park use.

In the 1990s Amager Fælled was declared protected.