Cell 13 is the only one with a sea view...

Bizarre Meeting

Cycling through the fragrant hillside apple orchards of Kivik, I was stopped by a woman wearing a flowing tunic patterned with apples. "Have you seen our Apple House?" she asked, and led me to a large building painted in the reds and greens of apples. "We promote the role of the apple in our lives" she added, her eyes hazing with obsession. One room is dedicated to famous apples in history (Adam and Eve's, Newton's etc). Another darkened chamber explores what she called "the symphonic soul of apples". Each was infused with apple smells. She gave me superb apple pie and cider and showed me an internet facility where addicts send appley messages around the world.

Biggest Let Down

"When you're in Norrkoping, Broadway Cafe is a must," enthused a music journalist. "It's where Eldkvarn, Sweden's best known working-class rock band, used to hang out and write their lyrics - it's all old velvet settees and there's the original jukebox to listen to their hits." When I arrived, I found they'd done it up the week before. A sea of gum pink formica and the jukebox played just one song. Nana Mouskouri's "Only Love".

Biggest Mistake

Mesmerised by the Hitchcockesque vision of thousands of migrating cranes blanketing the potato fields just south of Lake Hornborgasjon, I failed to see the blue lights of a police Volvo behind. My second error was mishearing "lessons" for "licence" as I feebly suggested I was speeding because the intense surrounding beauty had got the better of me. "Do you have lessons?" demanded the officer. "No." "But you must have lessons." "Excuse me," I replied, my tone turning crisply British. "One only needs lessons before passing a test in England." He winked kindly, and fined me 800 kronor (pounds 66).

Favourite Souvenir

I bought a cognac-coloured globule of Baltic amber set in silver from a splendid and isolated amber museum at Kampinge run by Leif Brost. The makers of Jurassic Park came here to research how DNA from dinosaur blood could last millions of years in the stomachs of mosquitoes suspended in ancient pine sap. The most expensive pieces show pairs of insects caught having sex for all eternity.

Strangest Building

Stromstad's massive town hall was financed by a local boy made good who insisted on total control of the building's design, and only decades after his death was his parent-fixation discovered. Built on the site of his late parents' home, every room dimension, and everything in them from clusters of lights, flights of stairs, prisms in chandeliers and each of the 27 coffin-shaped hidden wall safes measure multiples of 7, 14 and 27 metres - his parents' birthdays being 14 and 27 July. It took years to complete as he only ever corresponded on those dates, and his portrait in the main chamber is dated falsely after his own death to include the favourite dates.

Best Meal

Karlshamn's normally quiet streets become littered with half-naked completely inebriated bodies for one day a year during a real '70s throwback of a rock festival. A far more rewarding reason to visit is Gourmet Gron, an extraordinarily good vegetarian restaurant serving massive bowls of delicately scented pates, roulades and exquisite fruit salad dressed in sugared mayonnaise - and all for less than a pizza.

Best Discovery

There's a nature reserve called Hagestad at Backakra where orchids and heathers jewel the ground and buzzards and orioles fly above. Walking through a forest of gnarled oaks, I found the most gloriously deserted, windy beach where I stripped naked and wandered for miles in the sun across ribbons of white sand studded with silver birch driftwood, like wafers in ice-cream.

Favourite Hotel

There are several stylish and luxurious hotels in Varberg, but for me it's the youth hostel which wins out on atmosphere. Overshadowed by a 13th century fortress, the rooms are all cells in the 1850-built fortress prison. The life of the last life-term inmate ended in 1931, and the hostel, though Swedishly spotless, retains every detail - from door spy-holes to the barred, curtain-less windows and tin water jugs. Cell 13 is the only one with a sea view. I arrived in April and had the entire prison to myself, but advance booking is essential for June to August.

Neil Roland did research for 'The Rough Guide to Sweden'. Keep up with the latest developments in travel by subscribing to the free newsletter 'Rough News', published three times yearly. Write to Rough Guides, IoS offer, 1 Mercer Street, London WC2H 9QJ. A free Rough Guide to the first three subscribers each week.

FACT FILE

t Kivik is on the south-east of the Skane coast, 20km (12 miles) north of Simrishamn on road 118. Regular buses from Ahus take 20 minutes.

t For Hagestad Nature Reserve, follow the coast road east from Ystad for around 20km or bus 322 to Backakra.

t Stromstad is 2hr 40min by train north from Gothenburg or three hours' drive along the Bohusian coast on the E6.

t Karishamn's rock festival is in June. It is one hour by train from Kristianstad or Karlskrona. Gourmet Gron is at Drottninggatan 61.

t Kampinge is 5km east of Falsterbro on Road 100 or bus 182 from Vellinge on the south-east Skane coast. The amber museum, signposted Barnstenssnideri, is 500m from the bus stop. Tel 0046 404 545 04.

t Varberg is on the main Oslo-Copenhagen rail route, and 45km south of Kungsbacka by bus. The prison hostel is open all year (Tel 0046 340 887 88, or book through tourist office, tel 0046 340 887 70).