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Meetings and time for new thoughts. Recreation and
rest. Nature and cultural experiences. Come to Hotel
FrykenStrand just north of Sunne in Värmland when you
want to enjoy a home away from home or work in an
atmosphere which has appealed to people since the
early 1920s.
Almost
like home
by
the shores of Lake Fryken
Hotel
FrykenStrand,
Sunne
When I came here I
wanted to put emp-
hasis on the history
of the hotel in order
to move forward.
This is a feel-good
place – it’s almost
like home!
After just a few minutes by the western
shores of Lake Fryken, your state of being
changes. Fast turns into slow. Whatever
needed doing can wait. Hotel FrykenStrand
is a place where companies, organisations,
associations and private guests come to give
their thoughts some space, to feel grounded
and perhaps head in a new direction.
The garden with its large open spaces
and leafy trees slopes gently down towards
the shore. It is tempting to have a seat on
the terrace or at the chairs and tables spread
out on the lawn.
The CEO and owner Lena Bergström’s
hotel philosophy is based on the slogan
“Almost like home”. Inside the hotel, she
has created comfortable lounges where it is
nice to sit down on your own with a book
or together with colleagues and friends.
Since she took over
Hotel FrykenStrand
at the end of the 1990s, Lena has been
wanting to develop and deepen the natural
sense of relaxation that you find here,
rather than changing the concept which
has turned the place into a favourite among
guests for many decades. Already in the
1920s, there was a guest house here called
Lillmans pensionat. The guests came from
Gothenburg with a promise of recreation,
rest and a train ride that “only” took eight
hours.
In 1943, Frykenstrand became one of
the first holiday homes in Sweden to turn
to overworked women with large families.
Hildur Humla, member of the Riksdag and
a social democrat, put a lot of commitment
into realising the idea of a holiday home
for women who, through their work in
their own homes or on farms, were in the
same need of a break as those in formal
employment.
It was financed with subsidies from the
unions, the industry and a subsidised cost
per night which the guests paid themselves.
The women came here without their child-
ren. For two or three weeks they enjoyed
time to themselves and were pampered with
full board, including breakfast in bed.
Lena wants this very special period to
keep putting its mark on the hotel. Among
other things, history is told through the
paintings by Karin Broos which adorn the
walls in the dining room and some of the
corridors and lounges.
– Karin has used old pictures of the
women who came here for a few weeks
during the summer months, she says. Every
year there are guests staying here who
recognise their grandmother or another
relative.
Each painting has
a caption and together
they provide a good insight into how the
women spent their holiday. “Lovely with
coffee in bed”, “Cooling swim in Lake
Hotel Frykenstrand
The artist Karin Broos
has painted portraits of
the women who stayed
at the holiday home
Frykenstrand. Today they
adorn an entire wall in
the dining room.
94 | naturally
