What is it like to live in the remote parts of Scandinavia?
Allow me to offer a glimpse from my life in Jämtland, a region renowned for its untamed wilderness in Sweden.
Here, the word “remote” does not feel distant. My wife and I reside in a village of 700 souls. It’s not truly isolated—we have a supermarket, a train station, a gas station, and a school. Yet, once you step outside the village, you find yourself surrounded by vast forests stretching from horizon to horizon, dotted with incredibly blue lakes and small farmhouses scattered here and there.
In Sweden, it’s not uncommon to come across a perfectly civilized home in the middle of nowhere. This can feel somewhat surreal. These houses are typically part of a farm. Swedish farms aren’t the rough-hewn affairs you might see in Germany or Austria; they resemble the upscale holiday homes of the Hamptons on Long Island, complete with agricultural tractors beside them.
Life here is comfortable.
It’s utterly quiet, and you enjoy all the modern comforts of home. However, access to civilization feels like an adventure.
You drive endlessly on snow-covered forest roads until you finally reach the main road, from which you access villages like mine, buy goods, go to school, or head to work. These roads are usually well-maintained, so they’re accessible by ordinary cars, and there’s often bus service. I was surprised the first time I saw it—a bus stop in a place where you can hear wolves howl, and if your car breaks down, the driver might say, “Understood… it may take a while, but stay warm and wait for us.”
Let us explore a slice of this life.
The reference article