SWEDEN - Ockelbo

Ockelbo is called "The strawberry Place in Gävleborg", which refers to a place where you can find peace, enjoy yourself, have friends and do it all in beautiful surroundings.

A strawberry place also means that it is your very own favourite place. Ockelbo is situated approximately 250 kilometres north of Stockholm. The biggest city is Gävle located on the east coast with its 70,000 inhabitants. Ockelbo is situated at the beginning of Norrland, close to the forest that marks the start of the great Northern forest and wilderness The village has 6.100 inhabitants.

The inhabitants live close to nature. Forests, fishery and country life in a beautiful landscape, surrounded by dense forests full of raspberries, mushrooms and animals, form an important component of the daily life. People live well and cheaply in Ockelbo, it offers something for everyone: small, red traditional Swedish houses and modern villas. There are no high buildings.

The people in Ockelbo are well known for their entrepreneurship and development of competitive companies. In 2004 Ockelbo was elected as the best community in Sweden in entrepreneurship. In Ockelbo every 15 th inhabitant is an entrepreneur and between 30 - 40 new companies start every year. Ockelbo has today more than 400 companies in different business areas such as food industry, IT and manufacturing industries. If you visit Ockelbo as a tourist, you can walk in the wood on nice tracks, go mushrooming, pick some berries, or walk in the gardens. You can visit artists in their own studios.

In Vildmarksgalleriet you can see stuffed bears and wolfs. Interested in canoeing? There is great water for that! One weekend every summer Ockelbo changes into a big marketplace, with 150,000 visitors during three days. Here you can listen to music, buy different things and eat good food. In winter, you can ski downhill in Rnnsen or on the level in Ulvsta, ride snowmobile or go dog sledging. In Kuxahallen you can see the basketball team, which plays in the highest league.