19th-Century Swedish Torp with Guest House & Crayfish Lake Rights – Vacation Home Near Norrtälje



Lohäradsvägen 228, 761 72 Norrtälje, Sweden, Norrtälje (Sweden)
3 Bedrooms · 0 Bathrooms · 35m² Floor area
€157,000
Country home
No parking
3 Bedrooms
0 Bathrooms
35m²
Garden
No pool
Not furnished
Description
On a still August evening, the smell of woodsmoke drifts through an open window while the bells of Lohärad Church — standing just across the lane since the 1200s — ring out across open farmland. That's your Tuesday. That's just a Tuesday here.
This three-bedroom country cottage on Lohäradsvägen, set along a quiet rural road about 15 minutes outside Norrtälje and roughly 50 minutes from central Stockholm, is the kind of place that rewires your relationship with time. It's compact at 35 sqm of registered living space — the low ceiling height on the upper floor accounts for that number, while the actual floor area is meaningfully larger — but the property itself sprawls across a 3,040 sqm flat plot filled with apple trees, raspberry thickets, a 15 sqm greenhouse on a timber deck, an earth cellar, a carpenter's workshop, and a newly completed guest house. Small footprint. Big life.
The main cottage, known locally as a torp, traces its roots to the early 1800s, and the current owner has renovated it with the kind of attention that most people only talk about: period-appropriate materials, historically sourced pigments, a new wood-burning stove from Josef Davidssons Idun fitted into the traditional kitchen. The fireplace insert in the living room draws you in on grey October afternoons. Upstairs, two bedrooms sit under sloping ceilings that give the whole upper floor the feeling of sleeping inside a ship's hull — not cramped, just close. A chamber off the living room works as a third sleeping space or a quiet reading room. The veranda at the front catches the morning sun.
One of the genuinely rare features of this property: private fishing rights over a 560 sqm stretch of Lake Erken. Crayfish fishing. In Sweden, that is not a trivial thing. The traditional kräftskiva — the late summer crayfish party complete with paper lanterns, snaps, and folk songs — is as much a cultural institution as Midsummer itself. Having your own stretch of water for it makes the property something genuinely different in this price bracket.
The guest house, finished in 2023, adds a dimension that changes how you use the whole property. At approximately 40 sqm, it has two rooms — a bedroom and a living room with a wood stove — built from natural materials with wooden floors and panelled walls. It's not a garden shed with a cot. Friends can stay for a long weekend without anyone feeling crowded. Families visiting from abroad can have their own space. If you ever wanted to rent it out during peak summer weeks, the infrastructure is already there.
Speaking of which: this corner of Uppland draws visitors. The Roslagen coast sits just east of Norrtälje, with its archipelago of small islands, boat hire, and summer sailing culture. Norrtälje itself — a proper town with a lively Saturday market, the Norrtälje Distillery offering guided gin tastings and direct farm sales within walking distance of the cottage, independent cafés along Köpmangatan, and one of the better collections of wooden townhouse architecture left in Sweden — is 15 minutes by car or accessible by the regular bus that stops practically at the gate.
The immediate neighbourhood does a lot of the social heavy lifting. Directly across the road is the Lohärad Community Centre, which runs a calendar that includes Midsummer dances with live orchestras, drive-in flea markets, auctions, and a general atmosphere that most people have to travel to find. The Lohärad local heritage association organises surströmming evenings — yes, the famously pungent fermented herring, eaten outside with flatbread, almond potatoes, and onion, washed down with cold beer — along with folk music nights and guided history walks that connect the area's documented links to King Gustav III. This is not a sleepy commuter village. It has a pulse.
Bike out through the blueberry forest — about 3 km — and you reach Fyrsjön, a swimming lake with a sandy bottom, a bathing jetty, and a wood-fired sauna sitting right at the water's edge. In July and August that sauna-to-lake-to-sauna rhythm becomes its own kind of religion. Along the same cycling routes you'll pass Grim Icelandic Horses, which offers riding tours through the surrounding fields, and Hållsta Smokehouse, where the cold-smoked salmon is the kind of thing you find yourself thinking about on the commute home months later.
The property works equally well in winter. Snow on the greenhouse roof. Wood stacked by the door. The hand pump in the yard freezing over and not actually mattering because you have electricity and a fully plumbed kitchen. This is a genuine four-season place — not a summer-only cottage that sits cold and useless from September to May. The heating stoves, wood burner, and solar outdoor shower make the property comfortable across all weather, and the earth cellar keeps root vegetables and home preserves through the dark months.
For international buyers looking at second homes in Sweden, the legal framework is relatively uncomplicated. EU citizens face no restrictions on property ownership, and non-EU buyers can also purchase freely — Sweden imposes no special foreign ownership limitations on residential property. Property taxes on vacation homes are modest by European standards, and the Swedish system for registering ownership through Lantmäteriet is transparent and efficient. Buyers working through a Swedish mäklare (licensed estate agent) are protected by strict professional conduct rules. Mortgage financing is available to international buyers through Swedish banks, though terms vary by residency status — it's worth a conversation with Handelsbanken or Swedbank early in the process.
As a holiday home or second home investment, the property sits in a corridor that has seen consistent demand from Stockholm-based buyers looking to escape the city without a long drive. Fifty minutes on a commuter bus puts you back at Stockholm Central. That proximity — close enough for a spontaneous Thursday evening departure, far enough to feel like a different world — is exactly what drives the Roslagen second-home market.
Key features at a glance:
- 3-bedroom 19th-century Swedish torp on a 3,040 sqm plot in good condition
- Registered living area of 35 sqm; actual floor area larger due to ceiling height classification
- Newly built 2023 guest house, approx. 40 sqm, with wood stove and natural materials throughout
- Private crayfish fishing rights on a 560 sqm stretch of Lake Erken
- Wood-burning stove (Josef Davidssons Idun), electric hotplate, fireplace insert, multiple heating stoves
- Off-grid capable: hand pump, solar outdoor shower, composting toilet, electricity connected
- 15 sqm greenhouse on timber deck with irrigation system
- Carpenter's workshop and large outbuilding for storage and hobbies
- Renovated earth cellar ideal for vegetables and preserves
- Four apple trees, raspberry thickets, established composting system, berry bushes
- Lohärad Church (13th century) directly adjacent; Community Centre across the road
- Fyrsjön swimming lake with wood-fired sauna, 15 minutes by bike
- Norrtälje Distillery, Grim Icelandic Horses, and Hållsta Smokehouse within cycling distance
- Direct bus to Norrtälje; commuter bus to Stockholm (approx. 50 min)
- No foreign ownership restrictions for international buyers; transparent Swedish property law
This is a rare find for anyone serious about owning a second home in Sweden — a property with genuine history, working infrastructure for off-grid living, a brand-new guest house, fishing rights, and a community that actually does things together. It's priced accessibly for what it offers and the location it occupies.
If you'd like to arrange a viewing or want more information about purchasing this property as an international buyer, get in touch with the team at Homestra. We can walk you through the buying process from initial enquiry to keys in hand.
Details
- Amount of bedrooms
- 3
- Size
- 35m²
- Price per m²
- €4,486
- Garden size
- 3040m²
- Has Garden
- Yes
- Has Parking
- No
- Has Basement
- No
- Condition
- good
- Amount of Bathrooms
- 0
- Has swimming pool
- No
- Property type
- Country home
- Energy label
Unknown
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