Vargaslätten, Private woodland garden in Simlångsdalen, Halmstad Municipality, Sweden
Vargaslätten is an 18-hectare private garden in Simlångsdalen, Halland, created from 1917 by architect Sigfrid Ericson and his wife Ruth. Its main building was built in 1917–1918 in National Romantic style, with service buildings added in the 1980s and a museum and meeting building in the 2010s. The garden was shaped from Halland forest: ponds were dug, streams redirected, walls separated wild meadow from cultivation, and broken stone assembled into flower beds. It holds one of Sweden's most extensive collections of rhododendron species.
Architect Sigfrid Ericson and his wife Ruth, née Josefson, laid out the garden in 1917 and developed it until 1953. In 1954 Gunnar O. Westerberg took over the property and continued its care with gardener Nils-Olof Nilsson. In 1995 it became Vargaslätten AB under the Nature Trust foundation, and in 2013 the Westerberg family sold it to entrepreneur Göran Johansson, who has continued renovating and expanding the grounds.
Sigfrid Ericson described the garden in his own words as a place where "nature itself was the architect and master builder". He and his wife Ruth shaped it from 1917, turning forest into cultivated ground: ponds were dug, streams redirected into new channels, and walls separated wild meadow from beds. The rhododendron collection is today among the largest in Sweden.
Vargaslätten is privately owned and not open to the public, so the grounds cannot be visited on a booked tour. The garden lies in Simlångsdalen in Halmstad Municipality, Halland. The main building was erected in 1917–1918 in National Romantic style; service buildings followed in the 1980s and a museum and meeting building in the 2010s.
The garden covers 18 hectares, the same size as Sofiero (15 ha) and Norrvikens trädgårdar (14 ha), yet unlike those two it remains private and closed to the public. Its rhododendron collection is one of the largest in Sweden, and the grounds were shaped from Halland forest, with ponds dug and streams redirected into new channels.
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