Section 01 / Awesome Place 13 / Secret spot 02 / Mode: Bloom
01.13
The rhododendron park.
The second secret spot, next door to the first: the park at Gammel Køgegård, a kilometre west of the square — one of Denmark’s largest rhododendron collections, planted in numbered beds by the Danish rhododendron society since 1980, in a park C.Th. Sørensen redrew in 1967, with Køge Å running through it. Open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons; in flower in late spring.
Location: the lawn below the main building, Gammel Køgegård · Photo: Jens Kirk / Rhododendronforeningen
File: 15-PARK-BEDS / the visitors as shot, the park printed as its own plan of numbered beds
The secret
Rhododendrons in numbered beds.
Behind the wall of old trees at the west end of town is the park of Gammel Køgegård — the manor on the site of the first Køge, its 1791 house in red brick across the lawn. The park was redrawn in 1967 by the landscape architects C.Th. Sørensen and Else Collet, and in 1980 the Danish rhododendron society — Rhododendronforeningen, the Danish chapter of the American Rhododendron Society — began planting its collection here: wild species, varieties and hybrids, bed by numbered bed, until it became one of the largest rhododendron collections in the country. The estate and the society look after it together.
The beds have names and numbers, the way a botanist’s plan has them: the rock garden Stenhøjen, H1 to H8; beds 10 to 35; the beds “Under egene”, under the oaks; and, since the society’s fiftieth anniversary on 11 May 2024, “Danske hybrider” — rhododendrons bred in Denmark, in beds 1 to 11. The society publishes the plant list and a map of the beds, and the beds carry QR signs. Come in late spring, when the collection is in flower; come any open afternoon for the walk, the stream and the big trees. The main house is a private home — the small green signs on the lawn say Privat. The photograph is the society’s own, from the anniversary in May: visitors crossing the lawn to the house, printed here as the park’s own plan, numbered beds and all, the visitors left as they were.
Where
The park of Gammel Køgegård, 4600 Køge — entrance from Gl. Ringstedvej, about a kilometre west of Torvet. On foot along Køge Å from Brogade, or out Vestergade and Gl. Ringstedvej.
When
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 14:00–18:00. Outside those hours by arrangement with the estate office: DKK 500 a visit — give the day, the time and roughly how many you are.
In flower
Late spring — May into June, depending on the year and the plant; the society keeps flowering times by species on rhododendron.dk.
The collection
Rhododendronforeningen’s collection, planted since 1980 and kept by the estate and the society together: wild species, varieties and hybrids. One of Denmark’s largest.
The beds
Stenhøjen (the rock garden), H1–H8 · beds 10–35 · “Under egene”, under the oaks · “Danske hybrider”, Danish-bred hybrids, beds 1–11, opened 11 May 2024. Plant list and bed map on rhododendron.dk; QR signs in the beds.
The park
Redrawn in 1967 to plans by C.Th. Sørensen and Else Collet; Køge Å runs through it. Owned by Carlsen-Langes Legatstiftelse, the foundation that owns the estate.
The house
The 1791 main building is a private home — keep to the park; the green Privat signs mark where it ends.
Coffee
Café Åsen, in the old horse stable by the courtyard — Saturday and Sunday 10:00–16:00, so on weekends the café and the park overlap from two to four. Secret spot 01 →
Phone
The estate office, Carlsen-Langes Legatstiftelse, Vasebækvej 30, 4600 Køge: +45 56 65 01 44, cll@glkg.dk.
Source
gammelkjoegegaard.dk/parken and rhododendron.dk (Rhododendronforeningen, “Gammelkjøgegaard Rhododendronpark”), read 11 October 2026. The photograph is the society’s, from its 50-year anniversary on 11 May 2024 (gallery credited Jens Kirk), used here for concept demonstration only.
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