Malmo, Sweden

Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden. Malmo is classified as a global city. It was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia. It has an excellent relationship with Denmark and has undergone a major transformation after the completion of the Oresund bridge. It has attracted IT and biotech companies and well as many architectural changes.
A particular architectural structure that stands out is the 'Turning Turso' that is quite an architectural achievement.

The differences between the old and the new architecture are quite evident in Malmo. 

We were fortunate to have Baroness Trolle as our tour guide of her lovely property and castle Trollenas.

This beautiful castle built in approximately 1085 and has had a long history of family ownership.

The current owners obtained the castle when Denmark ceded to Sweden in 1658. The property had been returned to Knud Thott at the end of the Scanian war, he had in the meantime exchanged properties with Mrs Helle Rosencrantz whose family was originally from Sweden and she wanted to bring back her family to Malmo under Sweden's rule when peace was restored. Kund Thott wanted to remain in Denmark so was willing to exchange properties when Malmo became part of Sweden. The castle anf lands remained in the families hands after that. Then in late 1800, the then present Baron Trolle had the castle redesigned to give it its renaissance look of today.

Baron Ulf Trolle now owns the castle and estate, during the tour the Baroness explained that no longer does the eldest son gain everything, it must be shared amongst the siblings. As she is his second wife and he had other children, his older children will receive a monetary inheritance and the Baron & Baroness' daughter will inherit the castle, and hopefully continue the tradition. Listening to the history and the openness of the Baroness' life and the issue of how inheritance worked was fascinating.

To assist in maintaining the castle, they open for tours and cater for small functions. The Baron, Baroness and their daughter live on the property, and the only staff they have is cleaner that comes in once a week. Not the way I thought an owner of a castle would live but a truly lovely lady that loves her husbands family history.