Vallby Sörgården

About the museum

Vallby Sörgården lies on the Vadsbo plain in Tidan, north of Skövde, and is Skaraborg's only cultural reserve (kulturreservat). The village of Vallby is mentioned in a land register (jordebok) from 1540, and the farm name Sörgården has been used since at least 1685. The farm passed down within the same family from the 1700s, and seven generations worked here until the 1990s. The last person to live on the farm was Tyra Johansson, who lived there her whole life.

When other farms modernised their agriculture, Sörgården continued to be run in the old way, and oxen were used as draught animals right up to the 1960s. The farm is therefore preserved today as a medium-sized Västgöta plain farm from the 1800s, with a two-storey main building from 1826, outbuildings, stone cellars, a cowshed, a sheep house, a smithy and an undantagsstuga (small cottage). The furnishings of the house, and the tools and implements in the körhus (cart house) and snickarbod (joiner's shed), remain. The reserve was established in 2008 to preserve the farm together with its cultivated landscape from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The farm is owned by the local heritage societies Tidanbygdens and Wäring-Locketorps hembygdsföreningar and is managed on behalf of the county administrative board (länsstyrelsen) by Föreningen Vallby Sörgården (Vallby Sörgården Association). The association keeps the farm alive with guided tours, theme days, harvest festivals and traditional farm work in summer, and receives school classes for time-travel visits. In the reserve there is also an Iron Age burial ground, road markers (väglämningar) and Skövde's only rune stone, and a signposted cultural trail can be walked all year round.

Highlights

• Well-preserved 1800s farm with original interior and fittings
• Guided tours and theme days in summer
• Cultural trail past an Iron Age burial ground and Skövde's only rune stone
• Traditional farming with hässjning (hay drying), scythe mowing and nekar
• Time-travel visits for school classes

Permanent exhibition

• Kulturreservatet Vallby Sörgården – Preserved 1800s farm with original interior, outbuildings and cultivated landscape, plus a cultural trail past burial grounds and a rune stone.

Founded

2008

Operated by

Föreningen Vallby Sörgården

Admission & discounts

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: not available
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

As nothing may be changed in the cultural reserve, no accessibility adaptations have been made. In the car park an accessible toilet cabin is set up from May to October; otherwise the farm has an outdoor privy and cold water from the well.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide

In summer there is a question walk with answer slips (talonger) in the letterbox outside the farm, and the association organises theme days and time-travel visits for school children.

Getting there & parking

The cultural reserve lies a few tens of kilometres north of Skövde towards Töreboda, and is signposted with brown tourist signs on road 200 between Väring and Tidan.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Restaurant: not available

In summer you can drink coffee and eat home-baked goods in the garden at the association's events. You may eat your own packed food at the garden furniture when it is set out.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit