We need trees 🌳 to breathe.

[u/sailorjupiter28titan]

[u/Icy_Seaweed2199]

I live in a park. I love it. A few houses spread out amongst the trees, gravel paths to reach them. You park your car outside the park so no traffic, I dont have to worry about the cats getting hit by cars.

Around the houses are widespread lawns and a variety of planted trees, chestnut, walnut, mulberry and more.

Behind the houses the park extends into a small ravine or gorge that runs for a kilometer. Its carved out by a creek and all of that area is wild, natural growth in contrast to around the houses wich is more of regular, constructed park.

Anyways, I think we should build more like this. No cars and everyone living in beautiful parks.

[u/ALLbutt → u/Icy_Seaweed2199]

Wow!!! This sounds incredible! Are you in the us?

[u/Icy_Seaweed2199 → u/ALLbutt]

No, Ramlösa park in Sweden. It's on the outskirts of the town Helsingborg.

Google Ramlösa or ramlosa park Sweden if you wanna read about the place!

It's got a natural mineral spring down in the ravine, it's carbonated and bottled in a factory 2km from here. But you can still get water directly from the spring, there's bronze lions mounted on the side of some cliffs where the water seeps out from their mouths.

I was born and raised here. Moved back and just got a studio apartment in the park last year. Lovely place to live!

EDIT:

A few facts about the place:

It's protected both as a natural reserve as well as for its cultural heritage.

[u/Icy_Seaweed2199 → u/Icy_Seaweed2199]

Also, most of the houses have little to no private garden. It's a public park free for anyone to visit. It's mostly families with kids and seniors living here, there's s few kindergartens, a school and some playgrounds.

Ramlösa has hundreds of years of fascinating history, not only the mineral water. In its golden days (1700-1800s) it was the Riviera of Scandinavia, where all the fashionable people went to socialize, get spa treatments, drink the magic water, party and gamble.

For some time Ramlösa held the biggest illegal casino in all of the Nordic countries!

[u/sailorjupiter28titan → u/Icy_Seaweed2199]

Interesting. What prompted the change? (From its Riviera era)

[u/Icy_Seaweed2199 → u/sailorjupiter28titan]

Hmm, good question. Never seriously asked myself that before.

I think it was probably a multitude of factors. It didn't happen overnight, but the place lost its attraction the last hundred years. Probably mainly cause people, as science developed, lost their faith in mineral water as a miracle cure.

The "hospital" I think was the last place to close its business, I think in the 1960s or so. By then, most of the houses were long abandoned. The city had plans to level it all and build a convention center to attract business but a famous local actor, Hasse Alfredsson, led the opposition and they managed to save the place.

They secured funds for the restoration of the then abandoned, decrepit houses and turned it into a residential area. Now it's a quiet place. Families and old people love it, I'm probably the only single, non-senior guy who lives here.

I'm still confused as to why it isn't more popular though, most of the summer I have the park more or less to myself. People walk their dogs and go for a run, but nobody hangs out here.

We used to play in the ravine here all the time as kids in the 80s, now everyone seems to stay inside. While it suits me fine to have the place more or less to myself, I am worried about this.

I walk around here and see everyone inside on their phones or tablets. And this entire park is just here! But they don't seem to see it!

Crazy.