DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS...

Mix a hearty dollop of Sami heritage with a glug of Scandi perfectionism and what do you have? Wilderness adventure with extra bite, says ABI JACKSON

ESPITE being zipped into a giant thermal romper, a faint chill creeps across my flesh. Even an inch of padding can’t completely keep out the cold when you’re lying on metre-thick ice.

But a few shivers won’t dent my zen. Forget palm-lined yoga retreats and pricey spas, I’ve just discovered the ultimate holiday mindfulness belly-down on a frozen lake in the heart of northern Sweden’s Jamtland Harjedalen region, face planted in a freshly drilled hole, fishing rod in hand.

There’s a steaming cup of coffee at my side, brewed moments earlier above a teeny-tiny bonfire with wood collected en route, and but for the occasional crunch of snowflakes compressing when I fidget, it is soul-strokingly silent.

Relaxation isn’t the prime purpose of my trip; it’s the food I’ve really come to explore – an exciting blend of old and new that’s putting the region’s cuisine on the map.

I’d flown into Are Ostersund Airport the previous day, before driving a little over an hour to Buustamons Fjallgard, a cabin hotel and restaurant that’s home to one of Sweden’s smallest distilleries – and basically everything winter wonderland dreams are made of.

I’m embarrassed to admit, I’d always imagined Sweden as a land of pristine, pricey cities, full of Scandi-chic apartments and Ikea stores.

In fact, Sweden is 96% wilderness – and you’d be hard pushed to find a better introduction to this than Buustamons, which started life as a coffee and waffle house for hikers in need of a shielded pit-stop (‘buusta’ is old Swedish for windshield).

The business grew as, over recent decades, Are evolved into one of Scandinavia’s most popular ski resorts. Although there’s plenty to do when the snow melts too; opportunities for hiking, cycling, paddle boarding, even wild swimming, make the region an outdoorsy types’ Mecca.

Nestled halfway up Areskutan mountain, the final leg of our journey requires clambering into a snowcat (a truck on tank-style tracks). The snow’s so deep, it almost entirely obscures the timber-framed window in my room, but it’s business as usual, which for me and my companions, means a distillery tour.

Buustamons’ schnapps is created with their own vodka, made from well-collected mountain water.

Everything’s bottled by hand, and foraged herbs, spices and berries provide the flavours.

Sweden’s booze laws are pretty strict, though. Getting a distillery licence is tricky – and selling rights even trickier. Buustamons’ drinks can be enjoyed on-site, but you can’t buy a bottle to take home.

“The plus side,” our host Mikalai notes, “is you know if you go to a wine shop or wherever, everything is artisan, probably local and great quality.”

‘Great quality’, to be fair, is an understatement. Hospitality here feels like an art, and perfectionism isn’t a rare and remarkable trait – it’s a given.

Take the 50-odd restaurants and bars that have set up in Are – quite a concentration for a relatively small resort – almost all are impressively artisan and draw the crowds.

There’s Are Chokladfabrik (arechokladfabrik.se), a small but thriving chocolate factory started by three friends – Marie, Marina and Eva-Lena – in 1991. Everything’s produced on site (they make around 10 million pieces a year), using only fresh, local ingredients (try the soft goats’ cheese chocolate, or their best-selling cloudberry truffles).

One of the most exciting hangouts right now is Krus, a pop-up a stone’s throw from the base of the chairlift, run by the team behind Faviken – Sweden’s most famous fine-dining restaurant.

There’s usually a year-long wait for a seat at Faviken, but rocking up at Krus is a far more chilled affair.

Head there for ‘fika’, the Swedish equivalent of elevenses, which generally means pastries, cake and a jolly nice chat (everything’s brought in from the Faviken bakery, so it wouldn’t technically be wrong to say you ate Faviken food).

It’d be easy to assume a nation that favours daily pastries might have a weight problem, but Swedes are a fit bunch.

The wilderness isn’t just their larder, it’s their playground. And what a playground it is...

Getting to the frozen lake for my ice-fishing mission involves half an hour on a snowmobile, whizzing through forest trails and bouncing along snow-covered meadows in the foothills of the Oviken mountains that eventually open up into a dazzling moonscape, the lake stretching vast and stark beneath a brilliant blue sky.

Once I’ve planted my face in that icy hole, it feels like there isn’t another living soul for miles. Unless you count the fish supposedly swimming around a metre below – not that any are interested in the maggot on the end of my line.

Ice-fishing might be more about leisure than survival for most of us today, but for Sami people, it’s formed an essential part of putting dinner on the table for centuries.

Sami are the indigenous folk of Sapmi-land, a cultural region that spans northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and a small sliver of northern Russia. Many are nomadic reindeer herders, guided by nature and her seasons for generations.

But keeping traditions alive hasn’t always been easy. For Sami people, this has included maintaining hunting and fishing rights, and

THE rise of cruise holidays is set to continue into 2019 – and younger travellers are looking to head up the gangway. One in 12 Brits went on one in the last year, and two-fifths are keen on heading to sea for the first time, with most interest coming from 18 to 24-year-olds (53%).

The findings are a key part of travel association Abta’s recent Travel Trends 2019 report which highlights the seemingly unstoppable growth of the cruise. It says that as the range of destinations across the globe expands so too does the variety of cruises and activities on offer, including wellness, food and expeditions.

THERE is no shortage of swanky places to stay in the Maldives, but now there’s another heavenly resort to tempt you to the Indian Ocean. Set to open in March, the Hard Rock Hotel, located in the stop-in-your-tracks Emboodhoo Lagoon, will offer 178 rooms and overwater villas, a Rock Spa and, of course, lots of nods to music with memorabilia on display throughout. See hardrockhotels. com for more information.