You are staying in 'Den Sovande Älgen' in Majenfors (municipality of Markaryd). The name Den Sovande Älgen means 'the sleeping moose'. We (Aart & Ivo) bought the place in 2017 and had to come up with a new name because the old name 'Solhaga' was registered by the former owner.
Pensionat Solhaga
In 1895 the main building was built as a small hotel; 'pensionat Solhaga'. This was in the time that the big road (ofourse) was not there yet. The dirt road towards knäred was the main road from Markaryd to Laholm/Halmstad. This was also in the period that the waterdam was built. So many workers and engineers used the hotel (i guess )
Blindhem
In 1947 the hotel was sold to an organisation for blind people. Then the place was used about 60 years to accomadate blind people who were coming here to have holdiay. In the reception you will find some antique things as a braille typewriter, walking sticks and braille books.
There is also a framework with a never used five dollar note in it. During the renovations this letter was found behind a built in bookcase. The letter from America and this gesture never made it to its recipient
See some photo's of this period below this post.
Recenty History
Somewhere around 2000 the place was owned by various entepeneurs. They added the campsite. Till 2017 the place was used serveral years to house asylum seekers.
At the end of 2017 we made our entrance and after an exetensive renovation the place is as it is today.
Some photos of the Blindhem period
Special thanks to 'Pia' who gave many old photos and told us a lot about this time.
Some old photos, as you can see the building was white that time. Probably the organisation had a lot of money.
In sweden red paint is made of a residual product of the large iron mine in Falun. That's why this red paint is so cheap. So house owners with less money painted there house red. People with a little bit more money painted there house yellow. And really richt people used the expensive white paint.
Two old ladies descending the stairs at the reception. Note he iron was painted yellow. This is colour is better to see for visually impaired people.
The lady left is Pia, she managed the place for several years. In those years reviews were send by postcards
The piano is now a decoration piece in our restaurant. The photo on the right is taken in 1995 with Midsommar. This is where now studio 1 is located.
Als the guide dogs had a good time here The dog field we renovated in 2024 was already orginally a field especially for this guide dogs.
This midsommar pole was saved every year under the building of the studios/camping service building. We try to keep the tradition alive and decoratie the same pole every year with Midsommar.