Here in the Valle area we are not modest – the area is marketed as “Vallevägen - the world's most beautiful road”. Roughly 20 small business owners have joined forces to highlight the area's assets and resources. This involves both artists, producers, traders and B&B’s. The nature in the area is characterized by the kame landscape with its rolling hills. This type of landscape is considered unique in the world - it was formed when the inland ice retreated. There are over 60 km of hiking trails, and the area is known for all the tens of thousands cherry trees that blossom here during May.
The castle ruins of Gamla Höjentorp, dating back to the 13th century, lie in the largest of the six nature reserves in Valle. The castle is said to have been gifted to the Bishop of Skara in 1284, but was then taken over by the Crown at the time of Gustav Vasa’s Reformation. In the middle of the 17th century, Queen Kristina gave the castle as a wedding gift to Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie’s wife, Maria Eufrosyne. In 1722 the castle burnt down and it is said that Queen Ulrika Eleonora was visiting at the time. She watched the fire from a nearby hill, which was then re-named Drottningkullen (the Queen Hill).
Today the ruins of the vault are all that remain of the original castle, but the place bears witness to the importance of this area in the Middle Ages, when Skara too had a period of greatness. In the overgrown castle garden there are beautiful ash and lime trees, and on the slope down towards the Trädgårdssjön Lake there is a fragrance of ramsons and other rare plants. During his journey through Västra Götaland in 1746 Carl von Linnæus came here and he writes among other things: "Höjentorp was situated in a most wonderful place and had the finest of positions".
Within walking distance of the ruins lies the historic Höjentorp’s Farm. This is where the potato-king Jonas Alströmer ran his farming school in the 18th century. The nature reserve includes the hilliest parts of the Valle area with the greatest number of lakes.
In the northeast section lies the most pronounced kame landscape in the country. The ground is rich in lime and this can be seen in the lakes by the calcium sediments and the multitude of mussels, molluscs and stoneworts.
The cultural landscape is remarkably diversified and is in part of ancient type.