Section 01 / Awesome Place 12 / Secret spot 01 / Mode: Linger
01.12
Café Åsen.
The first of the secret spots — the places the town keeps to itself. A café in the old horse stable at Gammel Køgegård, the manor a kilometre west of the square on the ridge the café is named after: coffee, the day’s homemade cake and a glass of wine at a bistro table on the gravel, the 1791 house across the lawn, one of Denmark’s largest rhododendron collections behind it. Saturdays and Sundays, ten to four.
The secret
File: 14-AASEN-CUT / the glasses and the bottle as shot, the park printed through its own leaves · Photo: Café Åsen
A kilometre from the square, and nobody tells you.
Walk west out of the centre — along the stream if you have read Awesome Place 10, or up Gl. Ringstedvej — and the town stops at a wall of old trees. Behind it is Gammel Køgegård: the manor the Carlsen family bought in 1776, the two-storey neoclassical house of 1791 in red brick under a red tile roof, a half-timbered wing left over from 1603, and a park that Køge Å runs straight through. The estate stands where the first Køge stood, before the town moved down to the harbour. The main house is private; the park is open three afternoons a week, and in late spring its rhododendrons — one of the largest collections in the country, laid out in 1967 by C.Th. Sørensen — are the reason people who know come.
The café is in the old horse stable by the courtyard, art by local artists on the walls, bistro tables on the gravel outside. The card is short and right: coffee from 40 kroner, the day’s homemade cake 45, coffee and cake 80, a toast, an organic Søbogaard juice, a beer, a glass of wine at 65 — and Irish coffee, hot chocolate with rum and a Lumumba for the cold afternoons. Open Saturdays and Sundays from ten to four; the odd extra closure is announced on the café’s Facebook and Instagram. The name is the ridge: Køge Ås, the long wooded esker left by meltwater under the ice, which starts 700 metres from Torvet and carries the estate on its back. The photograph is the café’s: two glasses of rosé on the gravel in low sun, the house across the lawn — printed here through the park’s own leaves, the glasses left as they were.
Where
Café Åsen, in the old horse stable at Gammel Køgegård, 4600 Køge — about a kilometre west of Torvet. On foot: down Brogade to the stream and west along it, or out Vestergade and Gl. Ringstedvej; the park entrance is from Gl. Ringstedvej.
When
Saturday and Sunday 10:00–16:00. Extra closures are posted on the café’s Facebook and Instagram — check before a long walk.
The card
Americano 40 · latte or cappuccino 44 · hot chocolate 46 · tea 30 · iced coffee 45 · the day’s homemade cake 45 · coffee & cake 80 · toast 30 · Søbogaard organic juice 35 · beer 55 · wine by the glass 65 · Irish coffee, hot chocolate with rum or a Lumumba 65 — kroner, as published on cafeaasen.dk.
The stable
A small café in the former horse stable, the walls hung with work by local artists; tables outside on the gravel in fine weather.
The estate
Gammel Køgegård — on the site of the original Køge, a kilometre inland from today’s centre. A house since 1603 (Elisabeth Bille; the half-timbered wing survives), the Carlsen family from 1776, the present main building 1791 (neoclassical, two storeys, red brick, red tiles), wings rebuilt 1855–56; listed 1964; owned by the Carlsen-Lange Foundation since 1912. The main house is a private home — not open.
The park
Open to the public Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 14:00–18:00, entrance from Gl. Ringstedvej; Køge Å runs through it. Redesigned in 1967 by C.Th. Sørensen with Else Collet; one of Denmark’s largest rhododendron collections, in flower in May and June. Claras Kirkegård, the family burial ground on the ridge where N.F.S. Grundtvig lies, opens on 15 May and 8 September by arrangement with the estate office.
The ridge
Køge Ås — a wooded esker of meltwater gravel left under the ice, 24 metres at its highest, starting 700 metres from the square and running inland beside the stream; a conservation area and the town’s favourite walk. The 22 km Køge Å-stien follows it to Regnemark.
Phone
+45 93 88 02 32 — the café. The estate office, Carlsen-Langes Legatstiftelse, Vasebækvej 30: +45 56 65 01 44, cll@glkg.dk.
Contact
E-mail cafe-aasen@hotmail.com, or the form on cafeaasen.dk. No booking needed.
Source
cafeaasen.dk (the café, the hours, the card), gammelkjoegegaard.dk (the park), visitkoege.com (the manor, Køge Ridge), Wikipedia and lex.dk on the estate — read 11 October 2026. The photograph is the café’s, used here for concept demonstration only.
Back: Section 01 / Awesome Places
