Lost

The media described it as magical, blissful—an Instagram fairy tale. Stedsans, an ecologically minded forest resort in Southern Sweden, was founded by Danish couple Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbak in 2017. The two chefs (Helbak is also described as a food writer), had been running a popular urban farm-to-table restaurant in Copenhagen before “feeling the call of the wild” in 2016.

“We wanted to live a life in sync with nature,” they wrote in a 2023 blog post, reflecting back. “A life where we could live in a way that would cause as little harm as possible. We would grow our own food, take well care of earth’s resources, do our very best to make our footprint a positive one.”

So the two picked up their then family of four and set up Stedsans in the Woods, deep in the Swedish forest in Halland—“A very special place,” less than two hours from Gothenberg and less than 2.5 hours from Copenhagen.

“We created Stedsans as our own playground, where we explore natural food, design and lifestyle and share what we find with our guests,” they wrote on their website to describe their vision. “We believe that creating a way of living that respects all forms of life is possible, and we think that connecting with our own inner nature and the natural world surrounding us is a key element in this process…. By visiting us, you support this work, and hopefully, you get inspiration for ways to apply these ideas in your own daily life.”

On 17 acres near Lake Halla, the off-the-grid resort included simple, but striking wood cabins, regenerative gardens, a glass house restaurant, a floating sauna and other rustic yet refined outdoor amenities that made “nature the star of the show.” Stedsans, which means “a sense of place/direction” in Danish—“We interpret it as something with terroir, using our senses and which direction we need to go as a society,” the couple wrote—was centered around clean food and permaculture principles.

“We use no poison, we are water neutral, have no food waste, [and] work with a healthy, living soil and give a forest a value for being a forest,” the couple wrote. Mainly plant-based but not excluding meat, the food was foraged predominately from their gardens and the surrounding forest. The rest was sourced directly from local, sustainable farms, dairies and fishermen. Harvested that day, they said, or even “minutes before,” the farm-to-table food was cooked in an outdoor kitchen by fire only. Meals, admired for their adornment with flower petals, were served at long communal tables by candlelight.

Sinks and showers, whose water was heated by burning saw dust, ran on lake water, which went “straight back to the forest.” For this reason, the resort used “all natural, 100 percent biodegradable plant extract” toiletries. “That means that we can pump all water (even from the restaurant) into the lake or to our fields,” the couple wrote. “Furthermore, we water our gardens with saved rainwater from our well.”

Made from local fir and insulated with wood shavings, each cozy cabin accommodation—adopting a less-is-more approach, but not skimping on quality, natural materials—included its own outdoor compost toilet, which, made from pleasant smelling larch, used no water. “Once in a while, the compost toilets are emptied and—after a certain process—used as nutrients for parts of our garden operations,” the couple explained on their website. “Keeping the nutrients where they are consumed is an important part of the permaculture/holistic living philosophy as it helps to close the natural cycle of life and death that is the foundation for new life.”

Stedsans received praise from major media outlets around the world, including The New York Times, Monocle and many others. The resort’s Instagram account had thousands of followers. It was featured in books. But beginning in late May of 2024, a series of posts on Instagram and their blog began with the announcement that after eight years, they were calling it quits. “It’s time for a break. Time for more focus on our family… our dreams have changed their shapes and it’s time for us to move on,” they wrote. This was followed by an updated announcement in September that they’d decided to stay.

Attempting to clarifying any admitted confusion about their plans, an October 2024 blog post within a section titled “So—are you going or are you staying?” explained that they would indeed be holding on to Stedsans, albeit from afar. “…We ARE staying with Stedsans, while we will also be moving out of the forest and away from Sweden. We will be here a lot, but not have it as our home anymore.”