Red-brick Vallø Slot ticks all the ‘proper castle’ boxes, with pointy turrets and a moat filled with lily pads and croaking frogs. The building has retained its original 16th-century style, although much of it was rebuilt following a fire in 1893. While the castle itself is not open to the public, visitors are free to amble through the beautiful woods and gardens that extend from the castle building all the way to the sea.
On her birthday in 1737 Queen Sophie Magdalene, who owned the estate, established a foundation that turned the castle into a home for ‘spinsters of noble birth’. Unmarried daughters of Danish royalty unable to live in their own castles were allowed to live at Vallø, supported by the foundation and government social programs. In the 1970s, bowing to changing public sentiments, the foundation amended its charter and declined to accept new residents. For now, the castle remains home solely to a handful of ageing blue-blooded women who took up residence before 1976.
