The history of Thorskog started already in 1249 when the Norwegian King Haakon Haakonsson the older and Birger Jarl sat on Torskebacke (the Norwegian name of Thorskog) and agreed on the eternal peace between Norway and Sweden. The eternal peace did not last and it would take a few hundred years until Bohuslän and Thorskog became Swedish in 1658.
In 1730, Olof Wenngren started an iron-works at Thorskog and built a manor house where the castle of today is situated. He also built the surrounding dams and the phenomenal park. He was given privileges, ennobled and willed his rights of a squire and his coat of arms to the estate.
The castle that we see today was built by squire Petter Larsson who started a shipyard that made him very wealthy. His son Eskil inherited the estate in 1912 but when he died in 1926 only 50 years old his widow sold the estate. Since then it has passed through the hands of a number of families until it, in 1986, was acquired by Lena and Tommy Jonsson was has turned the castle in to a famous resort. In the Guest book we see names such as George and Barbara Bush, Michail Gorbachov, John Major and F.W de Klerk.
Photo: Averater, Wikimedia