FACTS
Hällefors
The Scandinavian divide, from which waters flow east and west, passes through Hällefors. For centuries people here have made their living through working with iron and forests. Finnish culture has influenced and enriched the area. In Bredsjö you will find “Finnstigen”, a nature and culture path with traditional Finnish buildings, Bredsjö manor houses offering accommodation and dining, as well as Bredsjö “mjölkfår” (milking sheep) who offer delicious sheep cheese.
Nature is always close in Hällefors. Here there are marshes and bogs, mountains and valleys, forests and open landscapes. 405 lakes and 117 watercourses invite fishing or canoeing. Hiking trails, iced lakes and ski tracks offer the possibility for a variety of outdoor activities all year round. The animal life is rich here, and there is quite a chance of meeting the forests’ wild inhabitants; elk, beaver or deer. Also the more rare lynx, wolf and bear inhabit these forests.
Until the 1980s the steel industry and its secondary trades were the dominant sources of income for the local residents. But during later years a new focus on education, art and art-handicrafts, food industry and nature tourism has turned Hällefors, with its House of Design, sculpture parks, culture school, industrial design education etc., into a prominent culture commune. Hällefors has many innovative and creative entrepreneurs working with food production, theatre, art, music dance and design. The commune offers a preparatory industrial design education (FIDU), a folk high school with design and scenography courses as well as a high school offering hotel, restaurant and natural resource educations.
The commune has a wide range of facilities offering accommodation, good food and refreshing nature and cultural experiences, for example Loka Brunn, Grythyttans Gästgivaregård and Sikfors Herrgård. Along road 244 between Nora and Grythyttan lies Bergslunds Schweizeri & Handelsbod with their reputable kitchen, exhibitions and shop. At Stadra herrgård (Stadra manor) they also have Stadra summer stage that organises theatre and exhibitions summertime.