Värnanäs herrgård, Manor house in Kalmar Municipality, Sweden

Värnanäs herrgård is a manor house in Kalmar Municipality built in the early 1790s with classical architecture and a formal layout. The main residence sits at the center of the estate surrounded by several outbuildings and large landscaped gardens that follow the English style popular among Swedish nobles.

Värnanäs is first mentioned around 1495 in Sten Sture's land register as two farms, one also paying 2 barrels of eel yearly, plus a mill. Gustav Vasa stayed there in 1541 and planned an avelsgård; the estate was burned by Danes in 1564 and rebuilt by Johan III. Carl Mannerskantz bought it in 1789 and had the present main building erected in 1791.

The name Värnanäs is stressed on the last syllable. The estate also housed industry: a shipyard active from the 17th century peaked in the mid-1800s, and in 1667 "Wernanes Såpebruk och Oljeslageri" was founded, later adding linseed oil production, a mill and a brickworks.

The property sits near the waterfront and is best visited during dry weather for comfortable walking around the grounds. Plan enough time to explore both the main building and the surrounding estate, including the various outbuildings scattered across the landscape.

The full-rigger Octavia, built at Värnanäs by Carl August Hahn, carried the Forssman expedition from Kalmar to South Africa in 1862, where a small colony was founded. The estate's shipyard peaked in the mid-19th century.