Viking Cruises Lifestyle Garden

It celebrates traditional Nordic wellbeing rituals and brims with traditional plants and herbs with medicinal benefits that are used in Scandinavian cooking – a sanctuary for both body and mind. This connection is at the heart of the design of Viking’s ships, which are filled with natural light and large al fresco spaces allowing guests to fully immerse themselves in the beauty of the World’s rivers and oceans. 

Therefore the Viking Cruises Nordic Lifestyle Garden, explores the various dimensions of wellbeing; eating well;  living well;  and enjoying the therapeutic effects of interacting with nature. Key features include a sauna hut situated on the edge of a woodland glade and a nearby plunge pool accessed by traversing boulder stepping-stones. This pays homage to the Nordic tradition of “Sauna Bathing”, practised to find deep inner peace and relaxation. After returning home on a Friday afternoon, chopping logs from surrounding trees and creating a wood burner to heat the sauna, Scandinavian natives alternated between the heat of the sauna and the ice-cold temperature of the pool. This is known to demystify the mind and help ensure a long and healthy life. A stone-paved seating area provides space to relax in the garden on Adirondack chairs, reminiscent of the Viking ship’s “Aquavit Terrace” where travellers are free to lounge and truly be at one with nature.

The garden features high proportions of traditional Nordic plants and other herbaceous species known for their medicinal benefits and culinary uses in traditional Scandinavian dishes. Edible berries include Wild Strawberries and Elder. Silver Birch creates birch syrup from tree sap and Lemon Balm is one of the key ingredients in traditional Nordic tea. Fever Few, used to treat toothaches and Yew, used to make cough medicines, are one of the many secret natural remedies found throughout the garden. Nordic trees frame the landscape design, providing a sense of enclosure and peace.    

Plant list:

Shrubs

Taxus baccata	Myrtus communis	Corylus avellana
Sambucus nigra	Ilex 'Nellie R. Stevens'

Ferns

Athyrium filix-femina	Asplenium trichomanes	Dryopteris filix-mas
Polypodium vulgare

Grasses

Briza media

Deschampsia cespitosa

Plants for water

Iris 'White Swirl'

Lychnis flos-cuculi 'White Robin'

Natives

Achillea millefolium	Rumex acetosa	Malva moschata f. alba
Geranium sanguineum 'Album'	Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora (Thompson & Morgan)	Fragaria vesca
Campanula glomerata 'Alba'	Urtica dioica	Daucus carota
Polemonium caeruleum var. lacteum	Hyssopus officinalis f. albus	Verbascum phoeniceum 'Flush of White'
Linaria purpurea 'Springside White'	Galium mollugo

Tanacetum parthenium

Trees

Pinus sylvestris	Alnus glutinosa	Crataegus monogyna
Betula utilis var. jacquemontii