Dutch ditching dykes for Dalarna

Hundreds of Dutch want to move to Dalarna and the county is using some innovative methods to help people leave the soggy dykes of Netherlands for central Sweden’s open landscapes.

Last weekend, a delegation from the central county came away from an emigration fair in the Netherlands with a registry of 200 Dutch families interested in moving to Dalarna.

With 18 million people cramped into an area the size of Dalarna, which has only 250,000 residents, the Netherlands has become a more challenging place to live in the eyes of many citizens.

While Dalarna wasn’t the only Swedish country opening its doors to the thousands of Dutch interested in moving, its exhibit had a feature that no other potential destination could offer: Patricia van Trigt.

Van Trigt moved from the Netherlands to Dalarna nearly six years ago and is now serving as an enthusiastic spokesperson and friendly face in Dalarna for other Dutch looking to relocate.

Read the rest of the article: The Local, 12 March 2008