Gråsten Palace Garden is not a garden you can take in along a single axis. The paths wind through lawns, thickets, wooded sections and blooming beds, so the view is constantly shifting between the intimate and the open landscape.
In season, the colors begin early with tulips, daffodils and jonquils. Later, rhododendrons, azaleas, phlox, daylilies, montbretia and peonies take over, and rose and perennial beds tie the garden together close to the palace.
The garden has its roots in a much more formal Baroque garden with straight paths, square beds, sculptures and fountains. In the second half of the 18th century, the style was changed to a romantic landscape garden, where the curving paths and large green spaces became part of the experience.
Since the mid-20th century, Queen Ingrid and then Her Majesty the Queen have given the garden a distinct floral character. The royal aspect here is therefore not only the palace in the background, but also the way the garden is maintained as a living, colorful landscape garden.
From the garden there is a view over Slotssøen toward Dyrehaven, and herons may be seen by the water. From the palace garden you can continue into the Gråsten forests, where the old carp ponds lie in the landscape around the park. It is worth checking access in advance, as the garden is closed when the royal family is in residence at the palace.
Right by the castle garden lie the old carp ponds, where carp farming at Gråsten can be traced back at least 300 years. At the forced auction of Gråsten estate in 1725, several ponds with carp were mentioned.
Gråsten was known as the country’s last active breeding of carp for food, but today the operation should be understood historically: the Danish Nature Agency ran the fish farm from 1998 to 2022. The local Christmas carp point to a Southern Jutland food tradition that does not resemble ordinary castle-garden idyll.
