Saturday 8th July 2017 – Hillerod, Denmark

So today it is Frederiksborg castle, arriving before 11:00 so that we can use our Copenhagen Card. Fredriksborg was a very important royal castle until it was nearly destroyed in a fire in 1895 and the chapel is still used for royal coronations. Shortly after the fire, the boss of Carlesberg, J.C. Jacobsen restored the palace and helped to found the national history museum that still exists today.

We were issued with a very small mp3 player that provided a guided tour in English as we walked around the palace. There are vast numbers of paintings, many donated by Jacobsen, in every room and lots of interesting furniture and artefacts. The commentary skips much of this and concentrates on the highlights, of which there are plenty to fill a few hours. After we had finished the tour, we went down into the basement where a children’s section had beautiful historic costumes. In any British museum, these would have had signs saying ‘Do Not Touch’ but here the sign read ‘Ask a member of staff if you would like to try this on’. There we lots of children, and adults, trying on the costumes and they looked great – definitely one for the album!

The impressive formal gardens of the palace with fountains and streams are open to the public and are a very popular place for walkers. We were especially appreciative of the many trees when two sharp showers descended!

After a late lunch back at the van, we walked to the local supermarket where we picked up supplies and I returned to cook dinner whilst Jane went to do some shopping, returning somewhat disappointed when she discovered that most of the shops closed at 16:00 or even lunchtime on a Saturday!

Photos: Almost every house that we have seen in Denmark has had the name of the occupants by the door but this house took it to an extreme, listing all the children’s names as well – the paranoid British would never think of putting their children’s names on view; After crossing the inner and outer moats and gates, we came to the square in front of the main building; The lovely chapel where a wedding was being held when we left and they were singing a Christmas carol, or at least a hymn to the same tune; The exquisite detail of one of the ceiling bosses in the chapel; The magnificent Great Hall; A collage of four of the ceiling paintings from the great hall – clockwise from top left, the mill, the printing press, the distillery and a clockmaker’s workshop; Just a few of the many costumes for children and adults to try on; The formal garden of the palace.