A nature reserve in a historic milieu
Velamsund is the largest nature reserve in Nacka. It is made up of both land and water.
The area is characterized by an extremely broken topography. Himlaberg is situated here; at just over 70 metres it is the highest point in the Stockholm’s inner archipelago. Between the pine-covered mountains are valleys that feature deciduous trees. In the valleys there are also traces of the haymaking that once took place here.
People have lived in Velamsund and tilled the soil there since the middle ages. In the year 1666 two independent farms were transformed into a manor (freed from taxes) and for around a hundred years Velamsund was an estate in the hands of the nobility.
A lively new era began in the middle of the 19th century when new owners started to lease out plots of land around the shores of the Baltic Sea for the building of summerhouses. At the same time regular boat traffic from central Stockholm began to arrive. Leasing out the land proved more profitable than farming. It also gave the families of crofters and farm labourers an opportunity to sell bread and milk and to wash and clean for the guests.
Since 1963 the majority of the land and many of the buildings have been in the hands of the municipality. Since 1992 an area consisting of 700 hectares (7 million square metres) has been a nature reserve.
The nature reserve is run according to a management plan. This states how the old cultural landscape around the estate should be managed in order to favour open ground and an element of deciduous trees. Forestry must be carried on cautiously. Neither chemical insecticides nor fertilisers may be employed in the woods.
Several of the interesting buildings belonging to the old estate have been restored and given a new function.
Magasinet is the fixed point of the centre for environmental learning. The building has been renovated and adapted for use by the disabled. ”Långa Raden,” the school and some of the crofts are other estate buildings that have recently been renovated. Unfortunately the main building was destroyed in a fire.
During the 17th and 18th centuries a park and gardens were created near the main building. On a steep slope, terraces for vines were also constructed. New discoveries have shown that the cultivation of vines went on for a period of over a hundred years. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, work is underway to restore Vinberget and try to cultivate vines there once again. A historical study of the park and gardens has also been carried out, and there are also plans to improve their condition.