The highlands of Småland - a state in southern Sweden - are rich with blueberries, moose and a quiet pastoral life. The rolling hills of grain fields, scattered streams brimming with trout and crawfish and thick forests matted with moss harbor iron-age burial mounds, hundreds of miles of remote hiking paths and historical and cultural farming traditions. With many of the lakes, valleys and hills carved by the last ice age, the highlands draw visitors year round from Sweden's busy cities and the European mainland to escape noise, pollution and stress. Scattered farms, churches and estates - some dating from the Middle Ages - share the quiet spaces with the region's timber, agricultural, glass blowing and fishing industries. At night, the Milky Way snakes across the night sky.

Nestled between the more mountainous central Sweden and the southern coastal flatlands of Skåne, the rugged, stony highlands sit roughly equidistant from Sweden's two main cities - Stockholm and Göteborg. Those who have moved or remained in the Småland Highlands feel liberated from the frenzied city life, opting instead to be, according to the Swedish encyclopedia Nordisk Familjebok,"diligent and hard-working, yet compliant, cunning and crafty" and moving "through life with little means."