{"id":38590,"date":"2025-04-12T08:12:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T08:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/12\/my-stay-at-a-swedish-eco-retreat-was-blissful-whats-emerged-about-it-since-points-to-a-much-darker-truth-laura-hall\/"},"modified":"2025-04-12T08:12:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T08:12:40","slug":"my-stay-at-a-swedish-eco-retreat-was-blissful-whats-emerged-about-it-since-points-to-a-much-darker-truth-laura-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/12\/my-stay-at-a-swedish-eco-retreat-was-blissful-whats-emerged-about-it-since-points-to-a-much-darker-truth-laura-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"My stay at a Swedish eco-retreat was blissful. What&#8217;s emerged about it since points to a much darker truth | Laura Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stedsans seemed to embody Scandinavia\u2019s love of nature \u2013 until its owners moved to Guatemala, apparently leaving behind 158 barrels of human waste<\/p>\n<p>For me, visiting the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/apr\/07\/couple-who-ran-swedish-eco-retreat-fled-leaving-behind-barrels-of-human-waste\">now infamous<\/a> Stedsans eco-retreat in Halland, southern Sweden was the apotheosis of the Scandinavian dream: apple-cheeked children running barefoot on the forest floor, a lake for swimming, a sauna to warm up in, simple cabins for sleeping and dinner served in the evening on a long table surrounded by trees. When I booked to stay back in 2022 to celebrate my wedding anniversary, it felt like I was going to be walking straight into my Instagram feed, flower-strewn dishes and all.<\/p>\n<p>Only now, it seems like that was as fantastical as it first appeared. This week, a joint <a href=\"https:\/\/politiken.dk\/danmark\/art10300884\/De-ville-g%C3%B8re-verden-bedre-med-deres-b%C3%A6redygtige-restauranter-og-hotel.-Nu-er-de-flyttet-fra-milliong%C3%A6ld-og-158-t%C3%B8nder-lort\">investigation<\/a> by the daily newspapers Dagens Nyheter in Sweden and Politiken in Denmark found the owners of the eco-conscious retreat, chef Flemming Hansen and food writer Mette Helb\u00e6k, were now living in Guatemala after apparently going on the run from tax authorities, leaving behind multiple animals and 158 barrels of human waste. The investigation also claimed that waste water was left to run into the forest, with local authorities describing their purported actions as \u201cenvironmental crime\u201d.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2025\/apr\/12\/sweden-eco-retreat-stedsans-nature\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stedsans seemed to embody Scandinavia\u2019s love of nature \u2013 until its owners moved to Guatemala, apparently leaving behind 158 barrels of human waste For me, visiting the now infamous Stedsans eco-retreat in Halland, southern Sweden was the apotheosis of the Scandinavian dream: apple-cheeked children running barefoot on the forest floor, a lake for swimming, a &#8230; <a title=\"My stay at a Swedish eco-retreat was blissful. What&#8217;s emerged about it since points to a much darker truth | Laura Hall\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/12\/my-stay-at-a-swedish-eco-retreat-was-blissful-whats-emerged-about-it-since-points-to-a-much-darker-truth-laura-hall\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about My stay at a Swedish eco-retreat was blissful. What&#8217;s emerged about it since points to a much darker truth | Laura Hall\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}