Visit Margaretelund

I arrive at Margaretelund as the forest begins to darken. The road lies quiet between Eksjö and Nässjö, and then the Småland twilight is interrupted by something unexpected: a string of a hundred small LED lights, bollards lighting the parking area and a wooden building glowing warmly at the edge of the forest.

It is an unusual feeling to enter a shop with no staff and still not feel alone. There is another kind of presence here: the colours on the shelves, the cheeses in the fridge, the coffee, the light, the animals behind the shop and the clear sense that every product has been chosen with care.

Margaretelund is open 24 hours a day, every day. Emelie and Alexander are often nearby anyway: restocking local goods, working in the dairy, looking after the animals or doing everything that makes a place feel natural even when it is unmanned.

Entry is by BankID. You scan a QR code with your phone camera, identify yourself and unlock the door. No app is needed. Visitors from abroad without BankID will find phone numbers by the door; call, and someone can open remotely or help you.

Inside, you take a handheld scanner from the charging dock, wander at your own pace and scan product barcodes or shelf labels. Payment is by card or Swish. If anything goes wrong, phone numbers are posted by the till, and help is close even when the shop is quiet.

Perhaps it is precisely the quiet that makes the experience special. Many customers linger in front of the shelves, reading labels, turning jars over, thinking about game meat, apple must, tonic, cheese and honey. Being trusted alone in a shop in the middle of the night is a strangely beautiful feeling. Trust is part of the experience – though the shop is, of course, camera monitored.

Behind the shop, Gute sheep and goats graze. In spring there are often lambs, and sometimes the animals decide that outside the fence is more interesting than inside it. If that happens, please call; someone will come and have a serious word with them. Visitors should look through the fence and not enter the paddocks; the rams are large, strong and can be dangerous if they decide to butt.

In summer, the ice-cream kiosk opens Thursday to Saturday, 1–7 pm during the school holidays. Ryssby ice cream from Nässjö is served, and the courtyard fills with people finding a place in the sun or shade. Even when the kiosk is closed, there is ice cream in the shop freezer, and coffee is always available.

Margaretelund is an exclusive food destination that also happens to work for children. It is not a park, not a backdrop and not an ordinary farm shop. It is more like a small world in the forest: food, animals, colour, light and a shop built on the idea that good products should be easy to find – at any hour.

“Come by day for the animals. Come by evening for the light.”