The history of Egeskov
The park has been open to the public for several generations. It has remained unchanged since 1959, when the restoration of the historical gardens was begun.
In 1967, the vintage-car museum was opened in the impressive building which used to be the barn, and over the years the museum has been extended to include several of the surrounding farm buildings.
Since its restoration in 1975, the Banqueting Hall has been used each summer for a series of concerts of a very high standard, and, since 1986, the Hall and many other rooms in the castle have been open to the public daily throughout the season.
The present Egeskov Castle was built by Frands Brockenhuus and completed in 1554. A few years earlier, he had married Anne Tinhuus, who had taken over the original farm from her parents. In those days, political unrest, the Reformation and the Counts' Feud made many landowners build their houses as well-protected castles, and Frands Brockenhuus was no exception. He built his castle in the middle of a lake on a foundation of oak pilings, according to legend, in such quantities that "it took an oak forest".
The building, which look so peaceful and idyllic to the visitors of today was built for defence purposes. It consists of two long houses connected by a thick double wall - the first house could be abandoned and the fight continued from the second house.
The double wall is so thick that it holds both hidden staircases and a well to ensure the water supply during a siege. The outer walls have machicolations (scalding holes) and plenty of embrasures, and the enemy´s flank could be shot at from the towers. Furthermore, the only access to the house was across a drawbridge.
Over the last four hundred years, various families have lived in the castle. In 1784, Egeskov was sold to Henrik Bille, whose descendant have owned the castle ever since. In 1883, Julius Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille moved into Egeskov and, during his time at the castle, it was restored by Helgo Zettervall, a Swedish architect, who also made the tower roofs higher , re-established the gables embattlements and built the gatehouse you pass through when visiting the castle.
During this period, the castle was developed into an up-to-date model farm with its own dairy, power station and railway track to Kværndrup, and this formed the economic basis for the large, modern farm that Egeskov still is today.
The large park with its 36 acres of land has been open to visitors for as long as anyone can remember. The layout of the present gardens is due to Niels Krag the Younger, who, in about 1730, laid out the French Garden, characterized by its clear symmetry, cut hedges and avenues of beech, hornbeam and lime.
In the last few decades, the gardens have been extended and relaid. In 1962, in the place of the first French Garden, the French architect, Duprat, created the present Renaissance Garden with its fountains, red gravel, box hedges and "topiaries"-figures cut in the shaps of spirals, squirrels, peacocks and pyramids.
In the summer, The Fuchsia Garden - with the largest collection of Fuchias in Europe - displays about 75 different species, incredibly varied in shape and colour, In winter, they are kept in greenhouses. North of this section is the Kitchen Garden, which was laid out in the 17th century at the time of Christian IV. It is one of the very few manor house kitchen gardens in Europe, containing all the things that were necessary for a large household at the time, such as vegetables for the kitchen, flowers for the rooms and scented herbs for the linen cupboards. It was way ahead of its time with its purely biodynamic and organic cultivation - completely free of chemicals.
In the north-western part of the park, there is the English Garden, where green lawns with large trees slope towards the streams and the castle lake.
Further to the west, and south along the lake, is the Cottage Garden and further along again the more modern gardens, the Water Garden and the large semi-circular Herbaceous Garden with its luxuriant floral splendour from mid-June to late autumn. Bordering the lawns, in towards the cafeteria , are the rose beds with, among others, the pink "Egeskov Rose", named in 1982. Egeskov is also famous for its fine rose jelly, sold at the kiosks.
Last but not least, there is the maze made of cut beech hedges several centuries old.
It has to be cut back ruthlessly from time to time to ensure its survival, Close to the playgrounds, a large copy of this old maze is made of bamboo plants to give as many people as possible a chance to try the excitement and romance of a maze. As far as we know, it is the world´s largest maze