Tag Archives: festival

Skaertoft Molle Bread and Food Festival

Skaertoft Molle is a small-scale organic mill located to the East of Sonderborg owned by Jørgen Bonde and Hanne Risgaard and their daughter Marie-Louise. The special thing about this mill is that it specifically focuses on organic freshly-ground flour with bran and germ that is especially suited for bread-making.

The mill started to mill its own flour in 2004. This required a lot of effort and knowledge on their side in order to produce the best flour they could. Part of this research led the owners to Richard Bertinet in Bath (UK), a well-known name in the bread-making world. It was Bertinet himself who suggested the idea of a Bread and Food festival at Skaertoft, which led to the first festival in 2008, and Bertinet being a guest at this years festival!

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The Bread and Food festival is held on a weekend towards the end of August/beginning of September every year. Each year a specific theme is chosen, with the theme this year being two: Smorrebrod (Scandinavian open sandwiches) and Food waste. During the festival there is a programme of events going on, with presentations, demonstrations, guided tours as well as competitions. On top of that there is a ‘mill market’ with around 25 producers from the German/Danish border region. Oh, and, of course, you can buy the mill’s own flour and other products.

We visited the mill for the festival on Saturday afternoon. There was a real vibe around the place, with many chefs in chef whites and chef blacks happily buzzing around, talking together and appearing to have a good time. We had a look around the stalls, sat in on a demonstration by Bertinet on making dough, and watched a sheep farmer and her dog round up sheep.

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If you’re still looking for something to do tomorrow (1st of September 2013), at 30 DKK a visit to the festival is a good option. Whether you like baking, are interested in local produce, or are a student looking for plenty of free tasters, it should be easy to find something that catches your eye. If you are reading at a time outside the festival, you can always visit the mill on During the rest of the year you can visit the mill on a Mondays at 14-18 to buy the mills own produce. Courses on bread making and baking are also held at the mill on a regular basis.

Skærtoft Mølle
Skærtoft 4
6440 Augustenborg

Ringridning – the Highlights

July is here and, with that, the annual tilting at the rings festival in Sonderborg. The first day I ever visited Sonderborg, long before I had any plans to move here, we had stumbled across this festival. It was a great event and one which I was looking forward to repeat once we moved here.

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Tilting at the Rings, or Ringridning, is an extended-weekend celebration of tilting at the rings and all that goes with it. There is loads going on, and you probably can’t be everywhere all the time. So what should you make sure you don’s miss? These are my personal highlights:

  • Tilting competition at the ringridning grounds: Every day. Finals and crowning on Sunday (start around 16:45)
  • Concert at the town hall square. Highly entertaining! Be there early for a good spot. Saturday at 11:00.
  • Visit Ringridning Museum. A real gem.
  • Concert and start of the cavalcade from Sonderborg castle: Friday and Sunday morning at 10:50
  • Historic tilting at the rings, by Sonderborg Castle: Saturday at 13:00. Also every Tuesday throughout the summer.

There are also a number of events that have caught my eye that I haven’t as yet seen:

  • Combined tour of the city and tilting grounds. Friday and Sunday at 12:00
  • Fireworks competition: Friday at 23:00
  • Light tattoo and fireworks. Monday from 21:00.

Other than that, just enjoy the atmosphere in town and at the ringridning grounds. Enjoy!

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Define Festival this weekend

Music versus photography

It’s time again for the annual, cross-border, electronic Define Festival and this year they have a really interesting lineup. From partyman Bjørn Svin to a full on symphony orchestra there should be some great music and beats in store for people. And it’s cheap – about 50DKK per session.

2 days, 3 locations, lots of music
The interesting thing about this festival is that it is not confined to one location but takes place in a number of locations. You can go to one location, or you can travel around to the venues. The other years there was a cheap bus taking people from Sonderborg to Flensburg but I can’t find it mentioned this year.

Underground @ 8pm Friday Kuhlhaus, Flensburg
Young talents from the Tonespace education in at the music conservatory in Esbjerg show their latest creations: Alexander Holm, Thomas Vedel, David Nordentoft og Louis Lennert.

Electronic Movement @ 11pm Friday Kuhlhaus, Flensburg
Electronic dance music with Rainer Weichhold , Johann Nielson and Hit Asmussen.

Symphony Orchestra @ 4pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg

First Run Time Error @ Alsion a site-specific performance for joystick-controlled video. Second an ouvertures for the classical Chinese instrument ghuzeng, samples and orchestra. Both creations by Simon Steen-Andersen, a Danish composer who is getting a lot of international attention lately.

Underground @ 5.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Young talents from the Tonespace education in at the music conservatory in Esbjerg show their latest creations: Alexander Holm, Thomas Vedel, David Nordentoft og Louis Lennert.

Fuzzy & Bjørn Svin @ 8.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Fuzzy (Jens Vilhelm Pedersen) has a wide range from jazz to film music to experimental electronic music. He has music for cartoons and avant garde exhibits.
Bjørn Svin (Bjørn Christiansen) is a self taught composer and producer who has been active on the electronic stage for many years.

Wet and Dirty @ 10pm Saturday Zanzibar, Sonderborg
Electronic dance music with Rainer Weichhold , Wet and Dirty DJ team and Hit Asmussen.

Visit to the Tilting at the Ring Museum (Ringridermuseum)

After watching the Tilting-at-the-Rings event over the weekend you undoubtedly have a number of questions you are curious about. A couple of mine were:

  • Why do the riders wear a bow on their head?
  • Does the red and white flag attached to their lance signify anything?
  • Why are the rings coloured?

If so, you could do much worse than taking a trip to the Ringrider museum.

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The museum is set up in the old gable house on Church street. This is the second oldest house in Sonderborg, dating to 1643. After falling into disrepair, it was passed on to the local historical archive in 1987, and to the tilting festival of Sonderborg in 2006, when they turned it into Denmark’s first and only Tilting at the Ring Museum.

On entering the museum you find yourself in a charming little house. I was immediately greeted by the person manning the museum on the day, who charmingly answered all my questions in ‘langsamt og tydlig’ Danish (slow and clear): The bow and the flags are simply decorations; the rings are coloured depending on their size, making it easier for the scorers to know the ring size that has been completed. There was also a wall of all the festival posters used since the tournament started in 1888, which I thought was very interesting.

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If you are around during the museum’s opening times (Tuesday and Friday 10:00-16:00 during June, July and August, and every day during the festival weekend; free entry) I would strongly urge you to drop in. The attendant was extremely charming and happy to answer any questions I threw at him in broken Danish, making the visit that much more than a simple museum visit. Worth a visit!

Electronic Music Festival at Alsion 14th November

An exciting new cross-border music festival is seeing the light of day this year when DEFINE takes place in Flensburg, Germany and Sonderborg, Denmark. First it’s in Kühlhaus in Flensburg on November 4th and the week after it continues at Alsion on November 12th.

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The line up doesn’t ring any bells for me, but it sounds like a great idea and I would love to hear some electronic in Alsions grand concert hall.

The two cities are 38km apart but according to Flensborg Avis there will be buses going between the cities for a mere euro 2.50, so it’s easy to take part in both parties.

Read more on the festival website.

Photo by Philippe Put from I Need Air.