Stedsans is closed. It happened from one day to the next, and we are still in shock.

This week we had to deliver the hard message to our staff, guests, suppliers and investors that we will not be able to continue.

We have disappointed many.

Even angered some.

And for that we are deeply, truly sorry.

But we can say from the bottom of our hearts that we have done all we could.

Some guests had made a booking shortly before we had to stop. We totally understand their frustrations. Fact is that if we had stopped one month before (which we were advised not to do) or a year before, there would always be someone who had just booked. And that fear and shame has kept us going for way too long. We are receiving threats of being reported to the police by one couple who chases us on all channels, including our private social media accounts. We will emphasize that we have done everything with guidance from our lawyer to ensure that we follow laws and make things correct. And we still hope and trust that people will get their money back, when the case is handled.

The last battle

We put all our last resources, money, time and trust, into making Stedsans, our life’s work and only source of income, continue. We always felt we were so close. We kept finding new solutions. We sold our car, put our own house out for rent, lowered the prices, adjusted the concept, borrowed money from people close to us. Till last week we were in serious dialogue with several potential investors and had offers out on big events that would have rescued the business. But all doors closed one by one. All the way up until the end we thought we had found a way to at least giving our future guests what they paid for.

But at the final hour, our lawyer had to pull the plug on this desire. In an event where a company is insolvent, it is a punishable offence to give advantages to any group of creditors. When you are insolvent you also loose your alcohol permission in Sweden. Despite our 25+ years in the hospitality business with no alcohol related issues at all you are not considered adequate when you are poor. And let's be clear – many good people who work with sustainability fall into that category.  There was no other way than to just loosen the grip and give up.

From now on, what happens to assets and debts is out of our hands. All the hand-selected items we have gathered over the years to give Stedsans soul, the buildings we drew and had made in local timber, are no longer ours. If broken dreams had value, we would be rich. The authorities have taken over, and we expect they will reach out to those who need to know more. There is no bankruptcy trustee on the case yet, but we expect this to happen soon.

We have lost everything of material value in the battle to make Stedsans continue. The dream we had been fighting for against all odds for so many years. Our income. Any savings we might have had. We have not paid a salary out to ourselves for over ½ year, because the new model that would make Stedsans greater than ever before was always just around the corner... As lifelong entrepreneurs we have always believed that as long as you have trust, you have a business. So far this has been true for us, but not this time.

We are now living off money we have borrowed from a family member.

Trying to figure out what’s next for us.

We are a family who is completely, utterly beaten to count.

The final blow after 8 hard years

This event is just one in a series of really hard blows we have experienced since we moved to Sweden 8 years ago. Right from the beginning Stedsans never really had a chance.

The amount of struggles we have faced with going against a system that doesn’t seem interested in real sustainability, is astronomical. This is a story we hear again and again from fellow doers and changemakers; the system makes change almost impossible. So many promises made by bureaucrats were broken, which delayed our plans and made them much more expensive than expected. Therefore, we always struggled with finances, especially during the Corona years (the tax debt from these years is what finally had us fall to our knees). We had family members very close to us who abused our trust in all-devastating ways in times when we needed support more than ever. We learned about narcissism the hard way (the hardest part, as any victim of narcissistic abuse can probably attest, is how you lose trust in all people, even in yourself and your sanity, for a while). Our relationship was put to a test again and again. We worked long hours every day without vacations for years. Our 4 kids had to do without us a lot.

So, despite living in a fairy tale forest and doing our best to fill our life with magic and beautiful moments, it sometimes did feel more like a bad dream.

Our dreams for the World are unchanged

We are super proud of what we accomplished with Stedsans; the hearts we touched, the new paths we showed, the beauty we created. Running a 100% water neutral, chemical-free resort and a groundbreaking restaurant. We are not quitters, and we know we are here to create a better world, side by side. Our dreams about a better future for Planet Earth and humanity are unchanged. The fire burning in our hearts to be a part of making it happen is stronger than ever before. We are only half ways in our lives, and we know we will come back, stronger than before.

We are grateful for what our years in Sweden have taught us. We faced our biggest fears and shadows, and it made us better, more resilient people. The situation, we are in right now, is probably the biggest fear of them all, and we have faith there’s divine alchemy at play.

But for now, we need to heal and catch our breath. Individually and as a family.

We hope for understanding and compassion in this process.

We are super grateful for all the heart-warming messages we have already received from staff, suppliers, guests and investors. Each one touches us deeply, although we don’t have much room for answering.

Thank you for following along on our journey. And sorry again.

Mette & Flemming