Our trip to Göteborg - Tjolöholm Slott and home (post 8 of 8)

As we were leaving Bohus it began to get dark, so we decided to head home, via our last stop, Tjolöholm Slott.

History info:
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The castle was built in 1904 by Blanche Dickson, the widow of a wealthy businessman.  The Tjolöholm estate dates back to the 13th century and was sold to Fredrick and Blanch Dickson in 1892.  They used the property as a stud farm for thoroughbred horses and a driving school for coachmen.

When they purchased the land it had an old manor in bad condition so they held a competition to design a replacement. Lars Israel Wahlman came second with his design titled "Hobgoblin" but it was ultimately the design they chose.  Fredrick Dickson died shortly after construction began - killed by blood poisoning after he wrapped foil from a wine bottle around a cut finger to stop the bleeding.

The castle was finished in 1904.

The castle now hosts weddings, Christmas markets and serves as a hotel.
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We arrived at the castle when it was already dark and very cold.

Picture of the castle from the official website (what it looks like in the light)

The castle did look pretty awesome lit up at night - we approached it from the rear, the shot above is the front overlooking the gardens:

Tjolöholm Slott at night

The leftmost corner tower

Looking out over the gardens

Closer view of the castle

While I waited with the kids in the dark walkway leading up to the castle, Kris snuck off to take a couple of photos from behind the castle.  Tom looked a bit nervous and called out "Mum?" in a worried voice.

"Don't be scared, I'm here" I said to him.

Tomas then turned and looked me in the eyes and said in a low voice "You can't be scared when you're already dead."

So I was the one scared and desperate for Kristine to return.

The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful, we stopped in at Malmö's only KFC for dinner and the kids went straight to bed.  I sat up until 2am working on blog posts, so the 30th of December looks to be a quiet day.