| Welcome to Gammalsbygården! | |
Gammalsbygården has been operating as a complete hostelry since the summer of 1995. We offer our guests good home cooking, using local raw materials like fish from Gräsgård Harbour and venison from the Ottenby deer park. For overnight accommodation we have fourteen individually furnished rooms, all of them with TV and en suite shower/toilet. Our aim is to give each guest our full personal attention and consideration right down to the smallest details, and to provide a relaxing ambience. | |
Gammalsbygården is open every day from April to October and December for accommodation and table reservations. Table and menu have to be reserved in advance, except for lunch Saturdays and Sundays in July between 12 noon and 3 p.m. Summer is our peak season, especially in July, when Öland receives most visitors. |
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| History Gammalsbygården was built in the mid-1850s as a typical Öland farm on the fringe of the Alvar limestone pan, with a view of Gräsgård Harbour and the Baltic. It ceased to be a farm in 1962, when Oskar Faming and family took over and opened a café here. Oskar was married to Hertha, who looked after the cooking, while Hervor, Hertha's sister, looked after the dining room. The business became well known and it expanded. The completion of the Kalmarsund Bridge in 1973 brought Gammalsbygården within easier reach of the mainland, further increasing the number of guests. Following the construction of four rooms, the business assumed the character of a boarding house. Have a look at the menu from the 1960s! Right from the beginning, Gammalsbygården's speciality was the fried eel which is still available to order. Eel was plentiful in the village and large quantities were trapped for domestic consumption. The Famings closed down most of the business in 1986 but carried on Gammalsbygården on a small scale for their regular guests until 1995, when the Magnusson family took over. Since 1995, then, Gammalsbygården has belonged to the Magnusson family - Kerstin and Karl Gustav - from Lagan in the County of Kronoberg. The family have ties of kinship with the previous owners, and Kerstin's father, Kurt Hemberg, spent his childhood summers at Gammalsbygården, which was the birthplace of his step-mother, Aunt Jenny. Kerstin does the cooking and composes the menus, while Karl Gustav waits at table and looks after the day-to-day running of the place. Gammalsbygården lies in the heart of Öland’s farming country, and the farms round about are very much going concerns. Gammalsby itself is in the parish of Gräsgård, half of which is alvar (limestone pan), one-third arable land and the rest coastal meadows. On the sheltered side of the strandvallen coastal ridge 5,000 years ago, the first Stone Age farmers found easily worked sandy soil and settled down as coastal dwellers. The alvar plain has been treeless ever since the Ice Age. Gammalsbygården provides a starting point for any number of outings and expeditions. The whole of southern Öland from Färjestaden southwards is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The agrarian landscape, the linear villages, prehistoric forts and burial grounds, orchids, alvar, birdlife and much else besides make this a region well worth visiting. We will gladly suggest different routes and things to see, and if you fancy the exercise we also have a bicycle rental service. Fishermen from Gräsgård and Bläsinge keep us supplied with flounder, turbot, cod and the pale Baltic salmon. Venison comes from Ottenby, and the lamb too, of course, is home-grown in Öland. Potatoes and onions come from the farms bordering on Stora Alvaret, and fine strawberries of unbeatable sweetness are picked in Ventlinge and Kastlösa during summer. We are especially glad of the elderberry of which Öland has a superabundance in summertime. We use it among other things for our dessert: elderflower parfait with a strawberry coulis. Many of Gammalsbygården’s delicacies are in our recipe book, Gammalsbygårdens Receptsamling (in Swedish).
Order our Birdwatcher’s Breakfast for really early mornings, and our picnic basket for your day’s excursion.
Staying at Gammalsbygården
At Gammalsbygården you have fourteen individually furnished rooms to choose from. All rooms have television and en suite showers/toilets. Room 1, done out in blue, and room 2, green, have their own balconies with a view of the sea. On the opposite side is room 34, our biggest room with one bedroom and livingroom which looks out over the raspberry canes and the lawn as well as the sea. All three rooms can easily be added with extrabeds.
On the ground floor of the brew house is room 5, a spacious room with its own entrance. This room has a rustic interior. The thick walls have white rendering and the deep window niches can be closed off with shutters. Also on the ground floor is room 12, a single room overlooking the forecourt.
Across the yard are the other four rooms, numbered six to nine. Room 6 is reached by a separate flight of steps and, together with room 7, is the largest and most spacious room at Gammalsbygården. There is plenty of room here for an extra bed if necessary. On the ground floor of the same building is room 8, which is entered from the forecourt. Room 9 is also on the first floor, with a view of the front courtyard. Room 10 and 11 are both in the old stable, at the second floor. Both rooms are generous in space and have wonderful views. Room 10 facing north to our neighbour and to the sea, and room 11 facing south with view to a wonderful english-style of garden. Room 13 is situated behind the main building towards Alvaret. It is a double room, though small, with a view to the south. Room 14 has its own entrace from the courtyard. The size is generous and it is equipped fascilities for disabled. Room no 15 is the latest addition, topping the sitting room extension in the main
building. This room has a separate entrance, reached by steps from outside the building, and a breathtaking view of Alvaret. If you feel like spoiling yourself or your company, then for an extra charge of SEK 450 per room you can go for "the romantic option", which means a half-bottle of chilled wine awaiting you on arrival, together with a small dish of fruit and confectionery. Look at a plan over Gammalsbygarden! See pictures and short movies of the room and read descriptions! Rates (as per 1st January 2009) Rooms
Nos. 1,2,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, 14 and 15. Bed and breakfast, double room SEK 900. Single room charge SEK 700. No. 12 and 13 (double room)
Bed and breakfast, double room SEK 800. Single room charge SEK 700. No. 34 (suite, one bedroom and livingroom)
Bed and breakfast, double room SEK 1000. Not available as singleroom.  View from room 6 Food and drink at Gammalsbygården
Gammalsbygården has hung on to its good culinary reputation ever since the days of the Faming family. People still remember Herta Faming's wonderful fried eel, which attracted diners for miles around. At Gammalsbygården the eel is still served to order with dill mayonnaise and a cool cowslip mustard. Nowadays the fried eel is numbered, like the pressed duck at Taillevent in Paris. Kerstin Magnusson, in charge of the kitchen says: "With us, people must always be able to eat well-prepared, substantial food in calm and restful surroundings." Apart from the eel, the menu also includes green vegetables, fish, venison and lamb, all from Öland. At the back of the house, Herta Faming's and her sister Hervor's kitchen garden is still in place, yielding borage, lemon grass, dill, parsley, asparagus, raspberries and other good things for that extra special touch. The Baltic Sea plays a vital part in the composition of the menu, supplying fish according to the season. Turbot, flounder and the pale Baltic salmon come from here, and so does cod when it comes in. At Gammalsbygården you can enjoy a plain weekday dinner or a gourmet meal with several courses. Kerstin has an extra soft spot for elderberry and likes to serve a parfait of elder flower, which is not exactly in short supply in Öland during summertime. Meal time venues Weather and temperature permitting, we serve your meal in the garden. The large dining room in the main building seats 35, while the small dining room, seating up to eight, is available for private parties. We can also lay the table in our newly renovated old stables, with seating for up to 50 guests.
The wine list  The Psalmist speaks of "Wine that maketh glad the heart of man", and at Gammalsbygården we make this our motto. Gammalsbygården has a very traditional cellar. Here you can enjoy above all the wines of France, but also those of Italy, Portugal and Lebanon. There are two wine lists, the ordinary and the exclusive. The ordinary one contains more everyday wine included, now or previously, on the regular stock list of the Swedish retail monopoly, Systembolaget. The exclusive list contains rare wines purchased either in Sweden, at London auction houses or straight from the producer in France. The sweet Vin de Constance from South Africa is one that you won't find in many other Swedish restaurants. In the matter of spirits, we rejoice in the range of malt whisky, cognac, Armagnac, Calvados and distillates like marc and grappa featured in our special spirits list. We spice our own vodka mixtures. Our speciality is cowslip flavour, but we also have milfoil and St John's wort. If you fancy a traditional Småland schnapps (vodka), we recommend a sturdy Kronobergare. Of course we have traditional varieties like OP, Skåne, Hallands Fläder and Ålborgs Jubileum. See our vodka list! The Garden Tender loving care is lavished on the garden. The calcareous soil of Öland makes it a grower’s paradise. The roses are especially wonderful, often blooming well into the autumn. First out in spring are winter aconite, snowdrops and squills, and last of all come meadow saffron and Christmas rose/black hellebore and Helleborus x sternii.
Golf
For the golf enthusiast there are several good courses in Öland and a golfing holiday, be it for a whole week or just a weekend, can very well be combined with a stay at Gammalsbygården. Grönhögen is a popular course, and it happens to be our home course as well!
Grönhögen Golf Club Grönhögen Golf Club is 7 km from Gammalsbygården, in Grönhögen, straight across Alvaret on the other side of the island. Grönhögen today is the biggest golf club in Sweden, with more than 5,000 members, and it offers an 18-hole course of typical seaside character, overlooking Kalmarsund. It's a tricky course, though, due to the hard limestone ground, which sets the ball rolling further than anywhere else! Link to Grönhögen Golf Ekerum Golf Club Ekerum Golf Club is on the road to Borgholm, after you have turned left from the bridge. Today it ranks as the best golf course in Öland, with a superb course and ancillary amenities. Link to Ekerum Golf Club Bird-watching
Southern Öland - a paradise of ornithologists. Öland is known all over the world as an ornithologist's paradise. Take a trip to the Ottenby Bird Observatory or do your own bird-watching all along the coast of south-east Öland. There is usually plenty of bird life to be seen down by Gräsgård Harbour and Gammalsbyören. No matter whether you are a novice, a beginner or an experienced ornithologist, an early morning excursion in the coastal meadows is always worthwhile, with both common and rare bird species to be sighted. If you need an introduction and guiding, we recommend that you visit the Ornithological Museum at the Ottenby Bird Observatory on the southern tip of the island, which offers an instructive and interesting presentation of birds and how they live. Another attraction there is the Långe Jan lighthouse, from the top of which you can look out for miles across the sea. Then there is also the Royal Manor of Ottenby Kungsgård and the Game Park Wall built by Charles X in the 17th century (Karl X Gustavs mur). If you find yourself peckish while visiting the Ottenby Bird Observatory, we recommend a visit to the Fågel Blå restaurant café. If a group of you fancy going on a bird-watching course, we recommend that you get in touch with our friends Rita Michelsson and Christian Cederroth at Segerstads Fyr, north of Gammalsby, who are two of Sweden's foremost experts on bird-watching. They live in the old lighthouse keeper's quarters and their garden has one of the densest bird populations anywhere in Sweden. Rita and Christian organise elementary and more advanced courses in bird-watching, but they can also offer guiding and other forms of instruction. Just ask them!  Lunch Between April and October you have to reserve your lunch table and menu, except on Saturdays and Sundays in July, when we offer drop-in lunches with a choice of two dishes from noon to 3 p.m.
Dinner
Gammalsbygården is open for dinner from April to October. Dinner is usually served at 7 p.m.
For dinner you always have to reserve a table and menu. Please phone us at least one day in advance. Overnight stays
Overnight accommodation at Gammalsbygården is available from April to December.
Please remember always to book by phone. We do not have any e-mail reservation routines.
The following are specialties of the house. Availability varies according to the season of the year, and so exactly what is on the menu will depend on when you come to see us.
For an evening meal, please reserve both table and menu in advance. You can usually choose between two starters, two main courses and two desserts. During lunch time hours in the summer season, we always have two dishes available, one fish and one meat.
Starters
Gammalsbygården's matjes herring in cream with dill and chives
Toast with turbot roe Toast with gravlax and chopped hard-boiled egg, alternatively salmon with scrambled egg Gravlax with salmon sauce and toast or a bread roll Smoked eel with scrambled egg Fish paté with paprika sauce Crabfish Gammalsbygården Shrimp pastry Nettle soup with halves of boiled egg Chicken liver mousse Home-baked pie crust with shellfish filling or creamed fungi Main courses
Fried Baltic flounder with dill mayonnaise
Fish mould with roe sauce or shrimp sauce Whole baked turbot with clarified butter and grated horseradish Fillet of turbot poached in wine, served with wine sauce Fried fillet of turbot with vermouth sauce Gammalsbygården's fried eel with cold sauce Poached salmon with dill mayonnaise Salt-baked salmon with roe sauce Fillet of cod piccata Fried butterfly cutlet of salmon with hollandaise sauce and spinach cooked in cream Warm-smoked salmon with almond spinach Chicken San Francisco or with lime sauce Fillet of pork with Swedish Roquefort sauce or with fungi cooked in cream and served on a bed of spinach Fillet of pork roasted whole, with mushroom sauce Sliced cold entrecôté with mushrooms poached in port wine, served with a carrot salad Marinated lamb stew Leg of lamb with cream sauce Lamb chop with potatoes au gratin Saddle of lamb with potatoes au gratin Venison or lamb meatballs with cream sauce Roast venison (deer or roe deer) Venison stew (deer or roe deer) Smoked lamb or venison with potato salad or potatoes au gratin "Jack Frost" - slow-cooked frozen beef - with potatoes au gratin Roast joint of beef, marinated in red currants Desserts
Pie (rhubarb, gooseberry, blueberry etc.) and custard Soft fruit with ice-cream (strawberry, raspberry, black or red currants, melon) Gammalsbygården's chocolate gâteau with lightly whipped cream Elderflower parfait with berry sauce Almond tart with simmered buttercream Winter aconite with black currant sauce Lemon meringue with fruit Swedish cheese cake with jam and cream Crême caramel Plums in Madeira with almond cream White chocolate and almond ice-cream | |
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