The village Granö is located 70 km from Swedish Umeå. In a wide circle beyond the village you´ll find Dorotea, Storuman and Skellefteå. When we get there the ice has quieted the river and in the forest lies the snow. Here you´ll find a wilderness that not many people have found before. We hear birds singing and the silent chatter from lunch guests, yet, I can feel the silence.

The night train arrives at Umeå 06:13. It is almost empty at the station, a station that´s been standing strong in the snow since 1896. It seems that the city is still sleeping. We have breakfast at Kulturbageriet, which opens early for night train travellers. The café is located at the square inside the house of culture, Väven. This is where delicatessens, florists and fish shops come together with Women's History Museum, creator workshops and coffee-drinking morning job seekers. We lend some books from the city library for the next few days of good night reading, then we get on the bus. Granö is only an hour away.

Unfortunately Granö has struggled with relocation for a long time. When the local school was threatened with closure, the villagers joined forces. They were successful and the school was saved. Soon after a group of friends got together and started Granö Beckasin, wanting more people to discover nature in Västerbotten, but also to create more jobs.

The main building on top of the sandbank, located just after the bridge, probably doesn't impress anyone. However, something that does impress, are the floating bird nests up in the pine trees. Here you can stay in a treetop hotel and look out over the forest and the star filled sky, with breakfast served from a pull-up basket. You will also find cabins, an eco hotel and a campsite. Cars are available to rent in Umeå, but it´s perfectly fine to visit Granö without. If you want to cook your own food, it is only a few minutes walk to the nearest grocery store. The selection is not that great, but they have a surprisingly well-sorted cheese counter.

The nature here is both wild and quiet. A little low-key, and just right around the corner. Thick, fluffy and fresh snow is everywhere. One moment it falls down light like powder, and the next one it pours down. We put on some snow shoes and go for a tour with the guide Anne. She tells us all about the complex ecosystem that bring together the roots of the pine trees and the mushrooms, and how they help each other grow strong. Whilst we first see nothing, Anne sees three types of lichen and small insect holes under the bark.

Towards the afternoon we lend some skis and get ourselves out on the ice. In the sledge we have bread dough and wood for a fire, but we never get to the barbecue area, which is located on the other side of the little island on the river. Instead, we stay on the ice for some hot chocolate in the sun.

We have a crackling fireplace behind us, and the Ume River is located just outside the window. At breakfast there will be yogurt with blueberries, and croissants with marmalade from cloudberries and carrot. In the evening, the atmosphere in the small dining room is more lively. They serve mushroom soup with artichoke and lemon cream, baked root celery with hazelnuts and goat cheese cream, or moose stew with porter and black currant. For dessert there is ginger pears with ice cream. Your best change of seeing the northern lights is between October to March, and with the Aurora Forecast app you get a detailed northern light forecast, hour by hour. We booked in for a late night walk but the clouds are laying heavy on the sky, so we stay and drink coffee and lay 200 pieces of puzzle instead.

At nine o'clock we´re in the backyard of Spruce Island Husky, ready to go. Bea and Juliane provide us with warm clothes and boots, and we´re off to help tighten the sleds. We run the dog sled ourselves and quickly become winded going uphill, but it is by all means fabulous to slide into the magical forest. The branches succumb from the snow and fog hangs low above the lake. When we´re halfway into our journey we stop to light a fire, drink coffee and eat cookies. We wade through waist high snow to take a leak behind a pine tree. We stomp the ground to get some heat back into our cold feet. On our way back home, the four-year-old falls asleep wrapped up in wool blankets, to the sound of happy dogs barking. A tip for your journey is to buy some reusable heat-pads. They don´t cost much and are perfect to put in your shoes or gloves, and they quickly chase the cold away.

The Tallberg bridges extend over a deep cut ridge in the Öre River. The noble landscape tells a hundred-year old railway history. The first bridge was built to allow the mainline to be stretched north in 1891, and with the steel, it allowed an impressive stretch of 180 meters. As the steam locomotive became stronger, the requirements for solidity were increased and the bridge from 1919 was built in reinforced concrete, 140 meters downstream. The bow span measures 90 meters above the river. The most elegant one of the three is in both steel and concrete, which was completed in 1994. With its 338 meters it is the longest bridge on the main line through upper Norrland. A hiking trail guides you through the landscape. If you want to eat lunch, there is a log cabin to use at the river's edge. You can walk on the first bridge, as it is now converted into a road bridge. When we get there it´s dusk and over the sky there is a thin, green haze spreading out.

Traveling by night train feels a bit like moving in time. The conductor checks and ticks off the travellers with a paper and pen. It's a convenient way to travel with children. The four-year-old is overjoyed, she´s been talking about this for weeks. We have evening snacks, a light for hut construction and a thin fabric to hang in front of her bed if she falls asleep before us. Pyjamas and toothbrushes are on the top of the bag so we don't have to roll everything up in the compartment.

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Tree hotel of the woodlands - Granö