Trail 4, Faaborg

Stage 4 is the direct continuation of Stage 2 and takes you further towards the coast at Fjællebroen. While Stage 3 leads you into Faaborg, this part of the route continues through villages, manor history and open South Funen landscapes.

11 Norden – rebuilt farms

From Nyborgvej by Ny Hesbjerggård, the Archipelago Trail leads through high‑lying, hilly farmland with small lakes and scattered farms. The area has its own character with hedgerows and small groves. It is called “Norden” because it is the northernmost part of Diernæs Parish. After a couple of kilometres, the trail reaches Diernæs.

12 Diernæs – large village on a broad headland

Diernæs Dairy and Hospital

The former Diernæs Dairy stands along the main street. The history of cooperative dairies began after 1864, and in 1888 Diernæs also received its own dairy. The building you see today dates from 1924. Next to it stands Diernæs Hospital from the 1780s, built by the baron of Holstenshuus as retirement housing for former workers.

The cooperative movement

The cooperative system made large‑scale butter and cheese production possible. By 1914 there were 1,190 dairies in Denmark — one in almost every parish.

Finstrup Church Ruin

Between Diernæs and Holstenshuus lies Finstrup Church Ruin. The church may have been a pilgrimage church with a cruciform floor plan and a tall tower. The ruin was excavated in 1995 and the foundation restored.

Finstrup village and manor

East of the ruin lay the village of Finstrup with its manor, Finstrupgård — the predecessor of Holstenshuus. Dramatic events unfolded here in the 1300s during the peasants’ revolt against King Erik Menved.

After the revolt was defeated, many landowners were made outlaws, and the kingdom was pledged to German counts. Funen was pledged in 1317 to Count Gerhard — “The Bald Count” — who severely exploited the population.

13 Holstenshuus with the Old Deer Park

Gammel Dyrehave

Along Slotsalléen you will see the impressive stone wall of the Old Deer Park, where fallow deer were once enclosed. The wall is almost two metres high in places. There are viewpoints such as Regitzeshøj.

Holstenshuus

The main building at Holstenshuus burned in 1908 and was rebuilt in 1908–1910. The oldest parts of the cellar date from 1644. The park was laid out as a Rococo garden in 1753 and restored as a romantic landscape garden.

The park is open to the public during daytime hours.

Enemærket

South of Holstenshuus, the Archipelago Trail passes through Enemærket — the manor’s privately owned forest area. Historically, peasants were allowed only small wood from the forest, while the lord retained rights to the large trees.

Pipstorn Forest

A detour leads to Pipstorn Forest, which has Funen’s largest concentration of ancient monuments — dolmens, burial mounds and medieval ridge‑and‑furrow fields.

Faaborg–Ringe Railway

The trail then crosses the old Faaborg–Ringe railway, in operation from 1882–1962. A former crossing‑keeper’s house still stands here, and in summer a vintage train runs between Faaborg and Korinth.

14 Åstrup – your home found by lottery

The farmers in Åstrup held their farms as tenants under Nakkebølle Manor and paid with labour duties. The 1822 land redistribution followed the instructions of surveyor Thomas Bugge.

The redistribution

The land was measured, divided and allocated by lottery — drawn by a blindfolded child under six years old. The system gave each farm its own block of fields but also created major social differences.

Hard conditions

The labour days were long — from sunrise to sunset in summer. Many tenants wore themselves out. One man in Bogentved drew a plot full of stones and died at the age of 52 from the hard work.

15 Nakkebølle Lake and Sanatorium

Nakkebølle Manor and fjord

Nakkebølle Fjord was dammed between 1866–1870 to create farmland. A storm surge in 1872 destroyed the dam, which had to be rebuilt. The fjord was not completely drained until after 1955.

Nakkebølle Lake

Nakkebølle Lake was restored in 2003 to reduce nitrogen runoff into the archipelago. The meadows around the lake act as natural filters, and the area is rich in birdlife.

Nakkebølle Sanatorium

The sanatorium was built in 1908 as a tuberculosis sanatorium and operated until 1969. The buildings were later used as an asylum centre, school and residential institution. Today they stand empty awaiting a new purpose.

16 Fjællebroen – former shipping harbour

Fjællebroen was established in 1764 as a harbour for shipping timber from the forests of Rødkilde. The site later developed into a small harbour town with fishing, boat building, an engine factory and an inn.

Today, Fjællebroen is a large marina but remains an important historical point in the area.

Film on Funen

FilmFyn has attracted numerous film productions to the area. Fjællebroen hosts studios where films such as “Adams Apples” and “Simon and Malou” were recorded.

Herregårdsholmen

The Archipelago Trail passes Herregårdsholmen west of Nakkebølle Lake, where the remains of a medieval fortification — the predecessor to Nakkebølle Manor — can still be seen.

Enemærket

South of Holstenshuus, the Archipelago Trail passes through Enemærket.
The name Enemærke means that the forest was owned by the manor. The lord of the manor had full control over the entire woodland, while other forests were managed jointly with the local farmers.

It was often organised so that the farmers were allowed to use brushwood and small trees for fuel, tools, and fencing materials, while the lord had the rights to the large trees.

Pipstorn Forest

If you would like to experience a forest full of ancient monuments, take a detour to Pipstorn Forest.
It is about two kilometres from the forest Enemærket near Holstenshuus – see route suggestions on the map.

Pipstorn Forest has the highest concentration of prehistoric monuments in all of Funen. Here you can experience numerous passage graves, Bronze Age burial mounds, and Iron Age urnfield graves.

For approximately 4,000 years, the forest served as a burial ground for the people of the area. From the Neolithic period (c. 3400 BC) to the end of the Iron Age (c. AD 1000), the dead were buried here, close to the graves of earlier generations.

In addition, the forest contains ridge‑and‑furrow fields from the Middle Ages as well as stone culverts (bridges) from more recent times.

The Faaborg–Ringe Railway

South of Enemærket, the Archipelago Trail crosses the old railway between Faaborg and Ringe.
The line was in operation from 1882 to 1962.

Right at the railway crossing stands a former gatekeeper’s house. In earlier times – before automated signals and barriers – staff were stationed here to watch over the level crossings where the railway met larger roads. Today, a heritage train runs between Faaborg and Korinth during the summer.

Åstrup and the Land Redistribution

The farmers in Åstrup held (leased) their farms under Nakkebølle Manor. They paid for the right of use through compulsory labour on the manor and by delivering produce.

It was most common that they had to provide one day of work per week, sometimes more. In the old tenancy letters you can see how harsh the conditions were for the farmers.

In summer, they began work at the manor at sunrise and did not finish until sunset; in June, that meant starting at 4:30 a.m. and finishing at 10 p.m. In winter, tenants started at 7 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m.

Some tenants had to supply special goods to the manor – for example flax. Otherwise, it was normal to deliver a couple of fully grown chickens each year. Tenants were responsible for maintaining their farms themselves.

Åstrup was redistributed in 1822. The redistribution followed exactly the procedure laid out by the chief land surveyor Thomas Bugge.

First, the village’s land was surveyed and assessed. Then it was divided into new fields, one field per farm – in Åstrup in a block layout. The fields were then assigned to the farmers, who were usually tenants:

The fields were drawn onto a map and each marked with a number or letter. Then the same number of lots was placed in a suitable box. A child no older than six years was sought out, blindfolded, and asked to draw the lots from the box. In this way, it was decided which farmer would build his farm on which field. The farmers in Åstrup were allowed to trade fields internally.

Most of Åstrup’s land lay south of the road between Svendborg and Faaborg. The fields lie as regular rectangles with hedgerows and tracks following the property boundaries. As a rule, one farm lay in each rectangle. In total, there were 27 farms in Åstrup.

The tenant who drew Bogentved in the western part of the parish cried when he learned where he was to live. Everyone knew that there were an unusually large number of stones in the soil there, so no one wished to exchange fields. He lived only to the age of 52, worn out from gathering stones.

Nakkebølle Manor and Nakkebølle Lake

The buildings of Nakkebølle lie low in the landscape east of Åstrup. There is no public access.
The red main building was constructed in 1559. In earlier times, up until 1866, the lake was known as Nakkebølle Fjord. It was a shallow fjord inlet connected to the Archipelago Sea through two passages by the island of Fiskholm.

When Nakkebølle Manor was built, it was possible to sail all the way into the innermost part of the fjord. Over time, the fjord inlet became shallower, and around 1864 it was decided to reclaim, drain, and cultivate the fjord bottom.

Hundstrup Stream (Hundstrup Å) was dug into a new course east of the fjord, and in 1866–1870 a dam was built across the two passages by Fiskholm.
To pump the water out, a mill was constructed 300 metres north of the present road, south of Nakkebølle Lake. The mill powered a screw pump that lifted water out of the fjord and into Hundstrup Stream, from where it flowed into the Archipelago Sea.

But the storm surge on 13 November 1872 destroyed the new dam, so the work had to be repeated, and the dam was rebuilt in reinforced form.
The drainage took time. There were several obstacles, and only after 1955 was the entire shallow fjord arm fully drained and ready for cultivation.

Nakkebølle Lake was restored in 2003. The purpose of reintroducing water into the lake was partly to re‑establish a lake, and partly to create meadows with shallow water.

When nitrogen‑rich water from the surrounding farmland seeps into the flooded meadows, conditions are favourable for some of the nitrogen to be released into the atmosphere, sparing the Archipelago Sea around 33 tonnes of nitrogen each year.
Many birds inhabit the area around Nakkebølle Lake, so remember your binoculars.

Nakkebølle Sanatorium

Approximately 300 metres south of where the Archipelago Trail reaches the paved road lies Nakkebølle Sanatorium.

The place was built as a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1908 and was used as such until 1969.
Originally, the complex — consisting of a total of 17 buildings — was constructed as a convalescent home for tuberculosis patients who needed fresh air and rest to recover from the dangerous infectious disease. But the number of tuberculosis cases dropped dramatically during the 1950s and 1960s, partly because effective vaccination programmes were introduced. The sanatorium was closed in 1969.

In the early 1990s, it was used as an asylum centre by the Danish Red Cross with more than 400 residents, and in 1998 it was purchased by the Tvind Schools Cooperative, which ran a school and residence for socially challenged young people. From 2008 to 2018, the property also housed Nyborg Maritime School, likewise part of the Tvind empire.

Both the maritime school and the residence went bankrupt in 2019, but the buildings are still owned by Tvind (The Self‑Governing Institution Fælleseje). The buildings now stand empty, are for sale, and await a new, exciting project (as of May 2022).

Fjællebroen

Fjællebroen was originally the harbour of the manor Rødkilde. Even though all trade was, in principle, required to take place from market towns, manors were allowed to trade as they wished as long as it was for their own use.

Fjællebroen was constructed in 1764 and used as an export point for timber from the Rødkilde forests.
From around 1850, the place developed into a small harbour town from which fishing and shipping were carried out. Here there was a customs post, boatbuilding yard, engine factory, bakery, and an inn. The inn was built together with a general store.

Today, Fjællebroen is a large marina, and almost all commercial activity is gone.

Behind the film adventure stands the film foundation FilmFyn, which has great success attracting film productions to South Funen and the islands.

Funen on Film

Around 100 films and TV series have been fully or partly filmed on South Funen, and you can follow in the actors’ footsteps in several places along the Archipelago Trail.

In Fjællebroen, you pass the film studios where movies such as “Adam’s Apples” and “Simon and Malou” were filmed.
Faaborg was the location for “The Green Butchers” and “Marie Krøyer”, and the TV series “1864” was partly filmed in the Svanninge Hills.
“In a Better World” (Hævnen) was filmed on Langeland, “We Shall Overcome” (Drømmen) on Ærø, and several of the Father of Four (Far til Fire) films were shot on South Funen.

Herregårdsholmen

Southwest of Nakkebølle Lake, the Archipelago Trail runs east of Enemærket. Close to the trail lies Herregårdsholmen.
Here you can see the remains of a fortified site where the predecessor of Nakkebølle Manor stood in the 1300s — perhaps a small defensive structure.