Aspö island · Lake Båven · Flen municipality

You cross the bridge, and then you're there

You stay on an island in Båven, a hundred kilometres from Stockholm, in a room with its own bathroom, and the lake lies just below the house.

See the rooms How to get here

The course centre at dusk. The row of windows glows warm yellow against the black timber cladding, a white fence runs across the foreground and the evening sky is blue above the roof. — The main building one evening, seen from the meadow.

Where
Aspö island, Stjärnhov
Flen municipality
Getting here
Train to Gnesta or Flen
a hundred kilometres by car from Stockholm
Accommodation
50 rooms
each with its own bathroom
The food
A chef on site
bread baked here

The first thing you notice when you arrive is how quiet it is, and that there's nothing you have to do. After a while you catch the smell of the forest and see that the lake is right there below you.

The lie of the land

The road takes you right to the door

You reach Aspö by a bridge, and the road leads up to the buildings.

Inside the entrance are the rooms and the smaller dining room, and to reach the jetty you walk down through the oaks.

If you've come by car, it can stay put until you go home again.

The road curves in past the buildings, with grass on both sides, pines and a flagpole on the left and the forest behind. — The road in, the last stretch up to the buildings.

A group stands on one leg in a balance exercise inside the circle of meditation chairs, in evening light from bulbs in the ceiling and with candles lit on the floor in the middle of the circle. — A session in the main room.

The setting

Five hundred kilometres of shoreline, and you're staying on one of the islands

Båven lies between Flen and Gnesta, a lake of bays, channels and islands. Aspö is one of them.

If you come by train the organiser will usually arrange a lift for the last stretch, so that part is taken care of. Around the buildings the land is left to nature all the way down to the water, the land is subject to nature reserve regulations and the lake is a Natura 2000 site.

Three people sit side by side on the jetty with their backs to the camera, looking out over Båven, with reeds on both sides and evening sun on the water. — The jetty, late in the afternoon.

Accommodation

Fifty rooms, each with its own bathroom

Every room has its own bathroom, tiled floor to ceiling.

Seventeen of the rooms have two single beds and seventeen have a double, while eight have bunk beds and two are suites. Who gets which room is up to the organiser.

The rooms have been renovated and are all to the same standard.

More about the rooms and accommodation

A made-up room with dark wooden bunk beds, white sheets, green curtains and a window looking out onto leaves. — One of the rooms, made up.

Set apart

The island is a world of its own

The road here ends at the buildings, and around them it's forest and water.

Usually the house is let in its entirety, to one group at a time.

A laminated sign on the inside of a glass door, saying in Swedish that a course is in progress and silence is kept. Through the glass you can see the gravel outside, the pines and a flowering bush.

The house

Most people sleep, eat and spend the day in the same building

The main building dates from the 1960s, low and long with its windows facing the meadow. The rooms are on the upper floor and the kitchen and the large dining room on the lower, so there's a flight of stairs between them. Six of the rooms are in Fiskarstugan (the fisherman's cottage) next door.

Dining room with long tables of rough timber, orange leather chairs and a panelled wooden ceiling with hanging brass lamps.

The dining rooms

Long tables stand under a panelled wooden ceiling, and there are two dining rooms, one on each floor.

The main room in daylight with some fifty low meditation chairs set out in a wide circle on the fitted carpet, and a row of windows facing the pine forest.

The main rooms

The main room has an open floor, so a whole group can sit in a circle.

Five pairs of shoes lined up on a wooden bench inside the door: sandals, clogs, flip-flops and a pair of trainers.

The entrance

We leave our shoes in a row inside the door.

In the evenings we tend to go down to the jetty and watch the sun set behind the forest on the far side. Nobody says much. When it turns cool we walk up to the house, where the windows are already lit.

The swimming spot one evening. Sand and grass down to still water, a rock at the water's edge and a pink sky over the forest on the far side. — The swimming spot, one evening.

Outside

The lake begins below the meadow

Down by the water there's a place to swim and a jetty, a wood-fired barrel sauna stands up on land, and the canoes are kept by the shore.

Båven has zander and crayfish, the birdlife is rich, and several parts of the lake are bird sanctuaries.

More about the island and the lake

Voices

How people who've been here describe the place

From Google reviews of courses held here. (Translated from the Swedish.)

Fantastic food and a course centre in magical surroundings.
Mats L., 2024

The periods of silence gave you every chance to be alone with your thoughts, no distractions at all. The chef was incredibly skilled and, to my mind, delivered incredibly good food every evening.
Sara H., 2023

The course centre is in an absolutely beautiful spot where you can swim naked and pick mushrooms.
Kristin S., 2023

Getting here

The train goes to Gnesta or Flen

By train: The train goes to Gnesta or Flen. From there you take bus 589 towards Stjärnhov.
The last stretch: Whoever is running the course usually arranges a lift from the bus stop. Check beforehand.
By car: A hundred kilometres from Stockholm. Once you're here you won't need to move the car until you go home.
Address: Aspö Kursgård, 646 96 Stjärnhov

Full directions