In Kalundborg and the surrounding area there are many large and small manor houses, estates and castles. Vildtbiotopen in West Zealand is good, and manor houses and estates are therefore attractive for hunting parties. For this reason, the Danish Royal family will sometimes visit these estates and castles with this intention during the hunting season.

Most of the places are private, but a few of them are open to the general public. 
 

Kragerup Gods

Kragerup Gods can be traced back to 1327 and has been owned by the Dinesen family since 1801. The main building’s central house is from 1801, the aisles are from 1838 and 1840. The vault basement where the restaurant is today can be dated back to 1616 to the time of chancellor Chr. Friis.

Birgitte Dinesen is the eighth generation at Kragerup Gods. Birgitte started the bed & breakfast at the estate. At the beginning she prepared the food herself, served, cleaned up, made the beds and collected the money, when the guests checked out. Subsequently the estate quickly developed. Today there are 35 rooms. If you are really brave you will move in with the “The white lady” in room number 3. She is one of many house ghosts, who look after the old estate.

Besides a quiet weekend in beautiful surroundings, Kragerup Gods offers the opportunity to throw a party or hold a conference. A farm of 900 ha with cultivation of plants, woodland, houses for rent, hunting, high land cattle and ostriches also belong to the estate. And the estate has its own yard shop as well.

Lerchenborg Slot

Lerchenborg Castle on Asnæs was erected between 1743-53 by General Christian Lerche. The buildings bear the stamp of the baroque symmetry and were among others drawn by Lerche himself. It is one of Northern Europe’s finest examples of baroque architecture. The castle was built out of an already existing house, Østrup Hovedgård, which still remains inside Lerchenborg’s central part of a building. The park, which today also appears as the original construct, is marked by the baroque style. On the other hand, the style in the castles interior is rococo.


Lerchenborg Castle is one of the many estates on Zealand that Hans Christian Andersen visited. He was invited on a weeks stay in 1862. Like Hans Christian Andersen you can spend a couple of days in the grand surroundings, as there is bed & breakfast at Lerchenborg Castle.

However, the castle is closed to the public except for a few special events. For more information about this please contact Kalundborg Tourist Office.

Dragsholm Slot

Dragsholm Castle  is probably the oldest non-religious building in Denmark. Parts of the castle date back to around the year 1250 and were possibly built by Absalon. The castle originally belonged to Roskilde Bispestol and served as a summer residence for the bishops. The crown took the palace at the time of the Reformation in 1536.
The castle has among others things acted as a prison. The most famous prisoner at the Castle is probably the Earl of Both Well, the Scottish Queen Mary Stuarts husband. He was deployed in 1573 and died there several years later.


Today the castle is owned by Inge Merete Bøttger. 187 hectares of land belong to the castle, which is still being used for agricultural purposes. Also it has a restaurant, and hotel and conference business.

It is possible to get a guided tour of the castle.

 

Birkendegård

Birkendegård manor house is situated in Værslev parish and belonged at first to Roskilde bishopric (1363-1535). Later the farm was transferred to the Crown and in the year 1743 Christian Lerche bought the farm, thus it came to belong to Lerchenborg Castle like many other manor houses in the area. The present main building dates back to the year 1854 and is influenced by the Dutch renaissance style.

Today, Birkendegård has an agricultural museum, where you can study the evolution of agriculture over the past 50 years.

Selchausdal

Selchausdal estate is located at Tissø and was called Gundetved until the year 1799, when Christian Andreas Selchau changed the name to Selchausdal.
The present main building in Dutch renaissance style dates back to the year 1856 and is situated in a square renaissance castle ground surrounded by a moat.

At Selchausdal estate, it is possible to hold conferences.