Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Enchanted Waffle House
When driving back from Nusnäs, we saw this intriguing sign announcing 'coffee' and 'story village'. Sweden has this lovely concept of the waffle stuga, a little road side cafe with waffles, a service I have been hoping to avail myself of. And this was clearly not your average American 'Waffle House', which is a roadside chain of greasy spoons with bold yellow and black lettering on its very plain signage, filled with truckers and characters making stops off the American highway. From the roadside, we could see little child size play houses, and thought it would be nice to let the kids run around in hopes of getting them to sleep on the way home, so we made it our stop for a snack before the evening drive.
The darling wood work promised a bit of magic
Of the Troll Variety
Every little detail drew us in
In Swedish wood working is called snickeri....such snickeri!!
A bridge to a little magic land
A place to dip your toes in a stream
A little bench and dining area over the stream, with an open view to the waterfall flowing beneath
Troll village
The Enchanted Waffle Stuga in all it's Glory
Here you entered and could order waffles in a kitchen to the left, and looking in all directions were tiny items of interest that drew your eye and made you wonder what was around the next corner. The little lady who made the waffles was in her 60's or 70's , and very generous with the whipped cream. Her husband, the supposed snickerer, sat by watching us quietly with his cane in hand from a seat by the door of the magic cottage. I believe we saw their son, a man in his 40's walking around the grounds. I think the three owl theme represents their little family.
Swedes love to decorate their window sills so they are attractive from the outside
What an endeavor, a labor of love.
Every place we looked things were perfect. Like this little side porch, with a guardian troll and a fuchsia plant it full bloom. All the flower beds were raked and weeded and planted with the most lovely flowers, every table had a fresh bouquet.
It was so magic it reminded me of Hansel and Gretel, I wondered if we should even EAT the waffles, lest we be bewitched.

Curious little gnome under the trees protecting a gnome home
A gazebo with the owl motif repeated
Another bridge leading to the sand box and play ground
Dala horse land of fun and adventure. The perfect roadside stop.
A little play cottage
Snow white
Darling fairy flower door painting
And well appointed inside
A perfect kitchen set up
And the waffles were excellent, of course. I did eat them, even though I was wondering if they were cursed like the apple offered to Snow White by the witch.....
Little play stuga
Trolls at work over their cauldron
One stuga was a loppis, or sale
Full of magic and mystery
Wooden ships and carved Kitchen scene
The wise woman and her witchy ways was sure to turn up somewhere
But Ken on roller skates seemed to be the one up to something sinister
And what is up with this fellow we will never know.... but after dark he may just roam the stuga playing with the other toys before returning to this bed at dawn
A bridge, the wood work looks like the couple that run the place...
Like I said, every corner was perfectly groomed
There were number of bridges over the creek that ran through the land of enchantment.
There were stugas for rent, some were named after one of the seven dwarves
Even the chickens resided in a well maintained den of magic
They were the fattest, prettiest, healthiest chickens I have ever seen. Beware the child that is ever to be fattened up at this cottage, they know what they are doing.....
So many stugas, so much wood work!
An expansive garden with tables for enjoying waffles and coffee
One of the Fiddlers of Dalarna, in his full masculine aspect for Midsommar
Another Little Bridge, themed 3 Billy Goats Gruff
Across the Bridge, the grazing lands and stuga of the Three Billy Goats Gruff
With a lovely step down to a nice wading area in the creek, next to a little man made waterfall in the flow.
My only evidence the place was truly bewitched was that everytime I tried to blog this post for the last ten days my compter would break.....coincidence ?????