Themed Cottages

The primary attraction for Fabelskogen is being able to stay in a cottage that is styled like it comes straight out of a fairy tale. For each cottage we designed an fable animal and gave it a story. The animal and its story informed the design of the cottage that it would live in, were it not occupied by Humans. So a cabin fit for a bear would have a two-person bed styled to look like it was meant for one, while a cabin for rabbits would be partially underground in an earthship style home.

This makes the cottages very suited for family with children, but anyone who likes fairy tales and a sense of imagination would love to stay here. When we start up Fabelskogen we will start first with Badger’s Farmhouse, which connects to our beekeeping. The cabin looks like a traditional farmhouse, and it overlooks the beehives and meadows. Inside the cottage you will be able to learn a lot about beekeeping and homesteading, which is Badger’s primary occupation.

We took inspiration from such modern fairy tales as Wind in the Willows and older classics from Grimm and Andersen, while searching for visual aesthetics in the artworks of Anton Pieck and, more recently, Tony DiTerlizzi.

Easy Stay

  • We will advertise our cottages online, and connect to an easy booking system.
  • If you have a special occasion, like a wedding anniversary or birthday, let us know and we’ll see if we can make the day a little more special.

Modern Amenities

  • It may be nice to feel like you’re wandering into a place two centuries past, but this is still a holiday for you and your family!
  • Dishwasher, oven and stove, modern shower and toilet.
  • Wifi available.

Explore The Area

  • From our cottages you will have easy access to the main road from where you will be able to drive to nearby towns, events and excursions.
  • For those who have no care, we will have bikes available to reach the nearest bus stop, and instructions on how to use our public transport.

Everyone Welcome

  • Pets are part of our family too, so we welcome you to bring yours. While we don’t charge for them, you are still responsible for their actions while you stay with us.
  • We are LGBTQ friendly, as are our Fable animals. They have no genders, just jobs.

Inspired by Anton Pieck

Anton Pieck was a 20th century artist and illustrator, made famous for his depictions of late 18th and early 19th century daily life in the Netherlands. His signature style can still be seen today as part of the design philosophy of the Efteling, a world-famous amusement park. Here, the attention to detail and subtle use of colors was crucial in giving the park’s oldest parts that dreamy, fairy-tale feel. 

For our cottage design we inspired by our love of Pieck’s detail and color with the forest environments of Scandinavia and the concept of animal fables.

 

Romance

Pieck believed that we were short on dreams and romance, and we couldn’t agree more. Not everything should be serious and about business, we should take the time to enjoy the world around us and relax.

Intricate Detail

Pieck’s art feels lively and real because he spent a lot of time researching the subjects he drew. We want to draw on that lesson by taking things slow and making sure we get every detail right before we launch.

Everyday Life

The strength of Pieck’s art is that he drew everyday life, just as it was but romanticized. We want Fabelskogen to feel real but romantic, and part of the world, like it had always been there.

Subtle Colors

Subtle colors in pastels so typical for Pieck work well in real-life, as the Efteling can attest too. We also hope to use that same palette to give a dreamy atmosphere to our cottages.

Inspired by Tony DiTerlizzi

Tony DiTerlizzi is an American illustrator who is well known for his work in children’s books, such as the Spiderwick Chronicles, The Broken Ornament and The Spider and the Fly; game art for Magic: the gathering; and art for the Planescape setting in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. His art style combines the whimsy of flowing lines and fantastic vistas with a similar attention to detail in texture and clothing to Anton Pieck’s, and with a catchphrase to “Never Abandon Imagination” his work embodies that sense of wonder that unites all good stories and allows the rest of us to build new things upon those foundations yet again.

The art below is copyrighted by their respective owners, to find out more about Tony DiTerlizzi you can visit his website here, or see more examples of his art and work here on Instagram.

 

Inspired by tales of old

From the moment we existed as a species, we have crafted tales and art to give light to our imaginations, find explanations for where we lacked knowledge, and pass on life’s lessons to the young. We have an impressive legacy of ancient tales from all over the world, and like red thread they extend from the place of their birth, knotting and weaving as the stories wander around, get adopted, rewritten and set in writing.

Putting together the reimagined fables for Fabelskogen, we drew on many works for inspiration, to get that same feel. A fable should not feel smooth and clear, it should be murky, with the texture of teacloth and waxed leather. There should be a certain oldness to the tale, even if it’s crafted new. When a storyteller works, what comes out of their mouths is an ancient art that casts even the newest stories in an older light.

 

Fairy Tales

From Grimm and Andersen to Mother Goose or the Canterbury Tales, elements of the fantastic weaving into everyday life are as old as time.

Each tale takes place in a place far away, a time long ago, from before the memory of any person alive today. Some explain why the night and day exist, others teach people of morality and consequences, or are recipies and hunters’ wisdom in disguise.

From fairy tales we evoke the fantastic, a wondrous world from long ago that lies only just beyond reach. When you sleep, or when you take a turn around the woods, you might find yourself in it.

Children's Adventures

The fantastic focuses often on the adventures of children, who are not yet fully formed by the sureties and conformities of our adult society. They question, accept or reject things as they learn of it, and most of the old tales focus on the consequences of those choices.

The lessons we learnt here are that to shape a new future, one must start with children. It’s they who see the world as it is and accept or reject what they find. When they wake us up to change that must happen, adults have to be the engine of that change – but it’s most often the children that first push the button to start it.

Modern Fables

Animal fables are an ancient vehicles; since the days of Aesop and likely much longer before that, we have imagined animals that walk as Humans do, seeing the world not with our own eyes, but from the viewpoint of those animals. The Wind in the Willows is a great example of a more recent version of such a tale.

This empathy, this ability to live life from the view of another, is one of our great strengths, and this is also why we chose animal fables as the means of telling the story of Fabelskogen.

What is done here, how it’s presented to visitors, follows that ancient tradition.

Lessons Learnt

Fairy tales and fables are not just entertainment; the lessons in them were very relevant once – and some are relevant even today.

And just like those stories, it’s fine to visit Fabelskogen and feel entertained; just having a restful holiday and recentering is a reward on its own. However, we also hope you feel richer for having been here and learning something new.

If we work together and reshape our relationship with the world and our environment, we believe strongly in our “forever ever after”.