Sofie presents the summer's news at Huseby Bruk

How do you easily kill and eat a freshly caught roach? On the big screen in Masugnshallen two king birds appear, each of which has its very own special method. In the next sequence we are met by a flying sea eagle and then ospreys who feed their chicks in the nest at the top of a pine. From loudspeakers, you can hear rippling water and the well-known scream from a big glow. In the summer, the ironworks in Huseby invites you to an adventurous nature experience. Johan Hammar, the biologist who became a full-time nature photographer and who was recently named Nature Photographer of the Year, shows pictures that illustrate the importance of freshwater.

– Only three percent of all the water on the globe is fresh water, and only one percent is available to us because the rest is tied up in the glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctica. But this is the only percentage that enables all life, says Sofie Magnusson, who gives Mosaik a guided tour of the exhibition.

Being cautious of and safeguarding the vital freshwater is the message that permeates the exhibition Valuable Water.

– Johan wants to show that we can make a difference. The exhibition also raises a desire to go out into nature. After seeing all the wonderful pictures and hearing the sounds, you want to experience them in the wild as well.

The Valuable Water exhibition is one of a total of three parts that together make up Huseby Art and Science. The idea is to combine technology, nature and culture. Here you will find “Make it flow”, a playful science laboratory developed in collaboration with the Technical Museum and where children and young people can test things like balancing balls on water jets, testing the wave machine or changing the landscape and creating rivers in a special box.

– There are fun and educational experiments with the theme of water.

Present and past tied together at Huseby. Water was a decisive factor for Huseby's success story. By building a dam on the river, one could get the hydropower that was necessary for the ironworks. The man behind Husby's flowering period was Joseph Stephens, the engineer who traveled to India and built railroads and made himself a fortune that he used to buy Småland's largest farm, Huseby.

– From his time in India he took with him lots of industrial knowledge that made him able to gain momentum at Huseby.

In 2008, a wooden box was found on Huseby's attic. The box had not been opened in 140 years and proved to contain historical documents from Joseph Stephen's time as a railway builder in India.

– A fantastic discovery that has given us completely new knowledge of how the railway construction went on in India, both about the work itself and how the business was done through procurements and contracts. The documents reinforce the image of Joseph as a successful entrepreneur.

In the exhibition shown in collaboration with Linnaeus University, Huseby is set in an international perspective. The 19th century meant the first globalization period where enterprising entrepreneurs had the opportunity to go out into the world and create success for themselves. Joseph Stephens tried his luck in India and then in Huseby.

– The research project conducted by Linnaeus University is called “Huseby in the world”.

In addition to the exhibitions, Huseby also offers a novelty in the garden, namely a clone archive. POM, the program for cultivated diversity, has appointed Huseby Mill for clone archives for Småland's perennials and ornamental onions.

A third novelty is found inside the garden restaurant, which from IKEA has taken over the interior exhibition Hemmarebeller.

– The idea of ​​the exhibition is to show how the famous artist couple Carl and Karin Larsson would have decorated their home if they lived today.

IKEA and Huseby Bruk are both major attractions in the Småland tourism industry. Between 70,000 and 80,000 tourists are expected to visit Huseby Bruk this summer. For Sofie, however, Huseby is a workplace, but working in such a beautiful and historic environment is a privilege, she adds.

– To show and tell about Huseby always feels fantastic.

Do you feel the history when you walk around here at the mill?

– Yes, it often happens that I am thinking about what Joseph and Florence might have thought when they lived here at the mill. You fall easily into their history.

And Husby's history continues to fascinate, especially Florence's tragic fate that culminated in the Huseby scandal. Lena Ebervall and Per E Samuelsson's book “Florence Stephens lost world”, a novel based on the scandal at Huseby, became a real bestseller this year.

– The books success gave Huseby a real boost as a destination. We still notice that. Among other things, many book clubs come here and want to experience the location of the drama.