2-Bed Timber Cottage with Orchard Garden on Lake Nyckelsjön – Vacation Home in Gnesta



Nystugevägen 2, Ullevi, 646 91 Gnesta, Sweden, Gnesta (Sweden)
2 Bedrooms · 1 Bathrooms · 90m² Floor area
€399,500
Country home
No parking
2 Bedrooms
1 Bathrooms
90m²
Garden
No pool
Not furnished
Description
Stand in the kitchen on a September morning and count the apples on the Sörmlandsäpple tree through the window. They're nearly ready. The smell of woodsmoke drifts in from the whitewashed fireplace in the next room, and somewhere down the gravel path, Nyckelsjön is perfectly still. This is Tjärtorp — a two-bedroom timber house in the village of Ullevi, just outside Gnesta in Södermanland — and it has the kind of quiet intensity that makes people stop looking at other properties.
The house is red-painted timber, classic Falun red, the colour that has marked Swedish rural buildings for centuries. Up close, the facade details reward attention — the kind of craftsmanship that doesn't come from a catalogue. Inside, the ceiling height surprises you. Wide wooden floors carry the patina of generations, the timber walls hold warmth even before the fire is lit, and exposed beams overhead remind you that this building was made to last. The large whitewashed fireplace anchors the main living space. It isn't decorative. On a dark November evening, it is the whole room.
The renovation work done here is worth understanding properly, because it separates Tjärtorp from the majority of Swedish country homes on the market. The walls and woodwork are finished in linseed oil paint — breathable, traditional, and far kinder to old timber than modern synthetic alternatives. The wallpapers are from Lim & Handtryck, printed from historical originals dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. These are considered collector's items in some circles, and they're on your walls. At the same time, the house has been fully rewired, replumbed, reinsulated, and connected to fibre internet. A new roof is scheduled for 2025 to 2026. The windows were restored by hand using traditional methods rather than replaced, which is exactly the right call — modern window replacements rarely improve old timber houses. What you get here is a property in good condition that respects its own history while functioning like a contemporary home.
The garden is the kind that takes decades to develop and that most people never manage to create from scratch. It borders directly onto forest and runs along nature in a way that makes the boundary between cultivated and wild genuinely ambiguous. Fruit trees include Sörmlandsäpple, Ingrid Marie, pear, plum, peach, and cherry. The berry bushes cover blueberry, currant, sea buckthorn, and jostaberry. There are vegetable beds, flower beds that bloom in succession through the growing season, and a pond that draws wildlife and reflects the sky. Several distinct seating areas mean you can follow the sun around the property through the day, or find shade when the Swedish summer turns properly warm. In October, the whole garden shifts into amber and copper. Come February, the branches are bare but the structure is still there, and the first snowdrops come earlier than you'd expect.
Walking trails from the property lead down to the lake and the bathing area. In summer, Nyckelsjön is genuinely swimmable — clear water, wooden jetties, the particular kind of Swedish lake light that photographers travel specifically to catch. In winter the same lake freezes solid enough for skating, and the surrounding forest trails work for cross-country skiing when the snow is right. Ullevi is a small village, but not an isolated one. The heritage centre at the heart of the village hosts the area's midsummer celebrations, which draw the whole community and have a reputation beyond the village itself. The community hall — locally called logen — is used year-round for gatherings, parties, and weddings. People actually know each other here.
Gnesta is fifteen minutes by car, and it covers everything practical: schools, a pharmacy, a Systembolaget, sports facilities, shops, and several decent restaurants. More importantly for international buyers considering this as a vacation home or second residence, Gnesta's train station offers direct regional rail connections to Stockholm Central in 35 minutes. The commuter train takes just over an hour. Long-term parking sits directly beside the station — leave the car, take the train into the city for a day, come back in the evening. Läggesta station, 17 kilometres away, adds motorway access to the E20 toward Stockholm for driving days. Stockholm Arlanda Airport is around 90 minutes by car or train combination, making this realistic to reach from most European cities for a long weekend.
Sweden's property market remains one of the more accessible in Europe for international buyers. There are no restrictions on foreign ownership of Swedish real estate, and the country's transparent legal framework makes the purchase process relatively straightforward. As a vacation home in Gnesta, Tjärtorp falls into a category of Swedish country property that has seen consistent demand — rural retreats within Stockholm's commuter orbit attract both domestic buyers and international buyers drawn to Scandinavia's reputation for quality of life, clean environment, and architectural heritage. The combination of a fully updated property in good condition with a mature productive garden and direct lake access at this price point is uncommon.
Seasonally, the property genuinely works across all four. Spring brings the orchard into blossom. Summer is the lake, the garden harvest, the long northern evenings that seem to go on forever. Autumn is for the apple harvest, the forest mushrooms — chanterelles grow in the woods around Ullevi from late July — and the fireplace. Winter turns the landscape monochrome and quiet in a way that feels like a different country, and the house, with its updated insulation and roaring fire, holds that out.
Key features at a glance:
- 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 90 square metres of living space
- Fully renovated timber house in good condition, respecting original character throughout
- Whitewashed fireplace as the central living feature
- Wide original wooden floors with natural patina, exposed ceiling beams
- Linseed oil paint finishes and period wallpapers from Lim & Handtryck
- Fibre internet, new electrical system, new plumbing, upgraded insulation
- New roof scheduled for 2025 to 2026
- Mature orchard with eight fruit varieties and multiple berry species
- Productive vegetable garden, flower beds, and garden pond
- Direct access to walking trails leading to Nyckelsjön swimming area
- Winter activities on the lake: ice skating and cross-country skiing from the door
- 15 minutes to Gnesta town centre with full services
- Gnesta train station: 35 minutes to Stockholm Central by regional rail
- Midsummer celebrations and active village community at the local heritage centre
- No foreign ownership restrictions for international buyers in Sweden
If you are considering a holiday home in Sweden or a second residence within reach of Stockholm, Tjärtorp is worth your time. Get in touch through Homestra to arrange a viewing — whether you want to visit in person or take a virtual tour first, the team can organise either. Properties with this combination of condition, character, and location don't come back to market often.
Details
- Amount of bedrooms
- 2
- Size
- 90m²
- Price per m²
- €4,439
- Garden size
- 1843m²
- Has Garden
- Yes
- Has Parking
- No
- Has Basement
- No
- Condition
- good
- Amount of Bathrooms
- 1
- Has swimming pool
- No
- Property type
- Country home
- Energy label
Unknown
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