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Vemmetofte
Strand Camping.

Vemmetofte

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Vemmetofte

In the Middle Ages, Vemmetofte was a well-fortified manor farm, which history can be traced back to 1300's. The manor farm was resided in by various noble families, until Christian V's Queen, Charlotte Amalie, bought it in 1694. She left it in her will for her two unmarried children Prince Carl and Princess Sofie Hedevig, intending that a cloister for noblemen's daughters would be established after their deaths. In his time, Prince Carl transformed the main building to the regular complex we know today. The gateway was placed off centre in the facade, where it still is today, and shows us that the facade contains a glorious feature that has shown itself impressive enough  to withstand the whims of later architects. Since then, the main building has been rebuilt several times, the last time in 1909, when it was converted into apartments for the residents of the foundation. In the main building itself the parish church can be found, and in Dyrehaven the parish churchyard, that was originally Sophie Hedevig's rose garden.

lVemmetofte estate has 800 hectares of arable farmland and 1400 hectares of forest. The largest of the forests, called Strandskov, follows Faxe bay for a five- kilometre stretch. Vemmetofte beach is, with its old landing place, a much visited resort and today, a camping site and a restaurant has been built.

After having passed the cloister and Kildeåen, the path turns left into Dyrehaven. Along the cloister garden there is an oak fence. The original planks date back to 1700 and in some of the planks there are shooting holes through which Prince Carl used to shoot deer. Opposite this fence, follow the forest path that leads to the graveyard wall. The inscriptions on the gravestones witness that everyone has had a connection with Vemmetofte Kloster, as the parish covers an area where the cloister owns all the land and every house.

After the churchyard, the tour splits into a short and a long tour. The SHORT tour swings away from the forest road and follows a path that leads through the heart of the old Dyrehave, which was planted in the beginning of 1700's. At that time and until 1900, the garden housed a large herd of deer. On the way you will pass a little wooden bridge over the Kilde stream, where it runs through the woodland area. The path ends at the road on the south edge of Vemmetofte village. From here, follow the path along the road back to the car park.
If you follow the LONG route instead, that continues down the forest road, you will see woodland scattered with groups of ancient oak trees. These are the homes of rare insects and shelduck breed in the hollow trees.
On the way you will pass various types of forest with different species of trees. Then the walk takes you through a grazing pasture that, to the north, is bordered by a beautiful stone wall. The walk continues now down the Lime-tree avenue to the south. At a little bridge, you cross the short route, which can be followed to the main road, or you can continue south to the cloister garden. On the edge between the forest and the cloister garden is a recently restored icehouse, where food was stored on ice earlier this century.