Diana Jarvis

‘I’ve never considered taking a summer holiday in Spain or Greece – I’d regret, too much, missing out on a perfect Swedish summer day,’ Hårken tells me. We’re standing by a lighthouse on Valö, a rocky speck of an island in the Gothenburg archipelago, and the sky is a cloudless colouring-book blue.  Hårken’s family has lived and worked on the island of Vrångö in West Sweden’s Gothenburg archipelago for centuries. He points to a tiny maroon hut on the island’s highest point. ‘That’s the pilot house. My father and grandfather and his father before him would guide ships safely to the harbour from here.’  Photograph: Diana Jarvis for Time Out Nowadays, however, he owns and runs Kajkanten, harbourside self-catering accommodation where I spent a few idyllic summer days. He offers kayaking trips around the island and boat trips to neighbouring islands, like Valö.  Photograph: Diana Jarvis for Time Out I saw plenty of ingredients for a perfect summer holiday on the boat tour: inviting sandy beaches, wooden jetties with swimming steps leading to glistening, calm waters, and colourful clapboard summerhouses replete with reclining chairs on verandahs.  ‘There’s not really anything to do here – and that’s precisely the point’ After mooring on a tiny stone jetty on Välo, Hårken guides us down a narrow path, flanked with an abundance of red campions, cowslips and speedwell. It swiftly takes us from one side of the island to the other. There’s not really anything to do here, except perha