The farms of Hälsingland are one of the odder success stories of Swedish history. In the nineteenth century, farmers in this part of the country grew rich on flax and linen, and they spent their wealth not on grand manor houses but on enormous wooden farmhouses with elaborate painted interiors. Rooms were reserved for celebrations, and decorated with biblical scenes, flowers and ornamental borders by travelling artists. Seven of these farms are on the UNESCO list, among them the Erik-Anders farm, near Söderhamn, whose neat red buildings stand in a clearing among fields and forest.
What you see from outside is a cluster of wooden buildings painted in the familiar falu red, in a design that was shared by many farms in the region: a large main house, barns, a bake-house, and often a separate guest hall for festivals. Inside, the best rooms are astonishingly bright, with every surface painted in blue, ochre and rose. Many of the farms can be visited in summer on a guided tour, with opening hours that change from year to year, so it is worth checking before you go. The local style of life was frugal in daily habit and extravagant on feast days, which is one of the more appealing contradictions of the north.
The riding in Hälsingland is quietly lovely. Roads wind through spruce and pine forest, past small lakes, along river valleys, and across open farmland with hay racks in the fields. The surfaces are generally smooth and the corners long and open, with very little traffic away from the E4. Be careful at dawn and dusk, because elk are a real hazard, and do not be tempted to speed on straight stretches. Summer evenings are long and gentle, and autumn brings gold birch against dark spruce.
Söderhamn, on the Baltic coast, is a town of around twelve thousand with fuel, supermarkets and cafes. Bring food for a picnic, though, since the farms are in quiet country, and a thermos of coffee and a cinnamon bun will serve you well. Midsummer is the best time to see the region at its greenest, but September, with fewer mosquitoes, is a close second.