PHOTOBLOG 14: WWOOFING Sweden July 2025
- Rory Dinwoodie
- Sep 9, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 10, 2025
The second part of our wwoofing adventures of summer 2025...Sweden! This photoblog covers another month of travel and farm work, this time in the Scandinavian forests of south-eastern Sweden where we stayed and worked on a small family farm throughout July; travelling to Stockholm, Malmö and Öland when not weeding or watering tomatoes.
PART I: 21002
One of the key selling points attracting us to work at Ekbacka Gård when browsing Swedish farms online was the many reviews about the cuddly sheep. My experience of sheep prior to Sweden had been that they were usually very unintelligent animals and quite skittish. I was pleasantly surprised when meeting the sheep at Ekbacka Gård to find that they had a genuine desire to play and cuddle with us. Watching the sunset and having a play with the ever-growing flock that roamed the meadow became a bit of an evening ritual for us whilst on the farm.
We did end up making a particularly strong bond with one of the sheep - 21002. 21002 was always the first one to run towards us when we arrived and the last to leave our side when we decided it was time to go home to bed.
PART II: Life on the farm
We had upgraded from a tent in Greece to four walls in a very traditional red Swedish cabin. It was cosy and nice to stay dry in the few rain showers we had. However, in return for the luxury of a roof we had to work a fair bit harder than when we were under our olive tree in Greece.
Our work consisted of a lot of weeding, watering and planting. However, our main task for the first couple of weeks was building 20+ raised beds out of old wood scraps for the tomato greenhouse.
Whilst we were always pretty knackered after a long day of farm work, the beauty and tranquillity of the place didn't get old and we were very lucky to call this place home for a month. We both especially miss the dogs and ducklings who would accompany us on our various tasks throughout the day.
PART III: Downtime
When not working on the farm, our favourite place to be was a nearby lake about 15 minutes cycle away through the forest. The southeast of Sweden was surprisingly dry and we were very restricted on water use at the farm. It also got up to 30+ some days and when you have been shovelling animal manure for 6 hours, any excuse to have a wash in a lake was welcome - especially one as scenic as this.
On another weekend we explored the nearby island of Öland and found an old fishing village which had a very spooky / Viking energy to it. This was part way around our 65km bike tour up the west coast of the island. The way north was lovely but we had a terrible headwind the whole way south and ended up not having quite as restful of a Sunday as we had hoped.
The nearby town of Kalmar also provided a regular stop to stock up on snacks and get in the sea when we wanted to indulge in some sugar. The crumble at Kullzenska Caffett was a particular highlight.
PART IV: Stockholm
Once our time at the farm had come to an end, we used our last week in Sweden to explore Stockholm and Malmö. Stockholm is a beautiful city surrounded by waterways and lined with cobbled streets. There were plenty of vintage shops and cinnamon buns to go around too. Meanwhile, Malmö was a vibrant and growing city that had a great energy to it, undergoing a transformation from its previous life as an industrial centre to a artsy and trendy hub with lots of design stores and cafes to explore.
We were blown away by the beauty of the Stockholm archipelago just a short bus ride from the city. We stayed in a magical air bnb here for two nights, which was just a short walk away from an idyllic swimming dock.
END
And with our time in Sweden at an end so too was our 3-month break. It has been an incredible time and I am so grateful to have been able to have experienced so much this summer. We have met some incredible people and been on some magical journeys, learning new skills and getting out of our comfort zone.
The photo blogs definitely show all the best bits and are often guilty of omitting the less glamourous side of farm life (e.g. stinky Thursdays where we would water with human urine, not showering for a week whilst shovelling animal manure every day, eating exclusively potatoes and lentils for a few weeks and all the joys of living in a tent for a month). Nonetheless, writing this now after a month back in the office I can't help but look back with a huge sense of fulfilment and joy surrounding everything we have done this summer - it was definitely worth it!
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