Historical gems
Museums & Collections
Around our Locations you can take part in the Åström family's unique museums and collections. These include Sweden's largest collections of corkscrews, Armagnac and Swedish product advertising - together with a 100-year-old folk museum with a country store and a unique champagne cellar with wrecked champagne from the ship Jönköping.
100 years old
Allmogemuseum at Herrgården
The cultural-historical collections are constantly growing and can be experienced at all our estates. Today, the Åström family has one of Sweden's largest collections of Swedish product advertising. Parts of the collection can be seen in the 100-year-old general store and in the museum at Dufweholms Herrgård. In the museum you will also find a printing house, hairdressing salon, pharmacy, shoemaker's shop and a family home on display. In the country store you can buy jams, juices, caramels and the classic candy cone to take home.
Sweden's largest
Armagnac collection
At Södertuna Slott , just outside Gnesta, there is Sweden's largest collection of armagnac - the oldest known spirit made from wine. The drink has a long history of tradition and quality as it began to be produced as early as 1411. Therefore, we think that the armagnac is a nice feature of Södertuna Castle's environment.
At the castle you will also find Scandinavia's largest collection of Greve Olivier de Montal's armagnac with vintages dating back to 1893. Today, Greve Olivier de Montal is unanimously praised for his armagnacs and this has led to Armagnac de Montal becoming a supplier to the French president, the English royal family and a plethora of Michelin restaurants.
A good Armagnac should give you a sense of balance, roundness and strength when you sip it. It's only when you swallow it that its full personality emerges. Then a variety of flavors emerge, from nuts, vanilla and chocolate to berries and flowers.
We offer tastings of armagnac at Södertuna Slott. Book a tasting and let us guide you and tell you about the exciting history of armagnac.
Sweden's largest
Corkscrew assembly
At Dufweholms Herrgård and at Gripsholms Värdshus and Södertuna Slott there is an incredible collection of corkscrews to look at. With about 3000 different corkscrews, we would say that it is the country's largest collection. Large and small, inventive and those that are mostly to be looked at, all come together here. There are also many good opportunities to use them!
A book of importance
Heavy brands
The Åström family is the owner of Sweden's largest collection of product advertising signs. The signs are mainly on display at Dufweholms Herrgård and Pelles Lusthus, but also in the book written by Peter Pluntky - Tunga Varumärken. The book is described as exclusive and unique, and not just in terms of its appearance, which is remarkable in itself, as it has a sheet metal cover and weighs a full 3 kg. The content of the book is no less important, in addition to a huge register of Swedish sign history, there are lots of interesting facts about manufacturers, typography and images. Fredrik Åström has contributed his information and knowledge to the author.
For more information and to order the book, please visit www.pluntky.se.
Old signs
The digital signage archive
Gamlaskyltar.se is a digital archive where Swedish product advertising with, among other things, enamel signs and copper signs from the 1890s are collected. The project Gamla Skyltar is run by Fredrik Åström. The archive is updated regularly but already contains thousands of signs. If you want to see the signs in real life, most of them are from the collection On our locations around Sörmland. On gamlaskyltar.se you can also sell signs you have at home or help document this treasure in early advertising history. To old signs
The manor
Unique champagne cellars
Dufweholms Herrgård has a unique champagne cellar where more than 100-year-old champagne rests in large aquariums. The champagne comes from the ship Jönköping, which was sunk off the Finnish coast in 1916 when she was on her way to Russia with wine, brandy and champagne. For more than 80 years the ship lay at the bottom of the sea, until treasure hunter Claes Bergwall and his team recovered some 2000 bottles of champagne from the wreck.
Because the bottles rested at the bottom of the sea for so long, they now need to be preserved in the same way. Therefore, we at Dufweholms Herrgård have rebuilt our wine cellar to both serve and display some of these unique bottles. Instead of walls in the wine cellar, there are now aquariums where the champagne can rest in water, just as it has done since 1916.
