And there they were. The deer. Probably around twenty of them, resting unconcernedly on the short-cropped grass of… a local football field. I checked my map. Yep, they were definitely within the Core Zone of the World Heritage Site. I had spotted deer at a World Heritage Site devoted to deer-hunting. Could I count this as a tick? Only one problem: I was not in the World Heritage Site. I was sat on a train returning from Kronborg Castle. As the train rushed on the last thing I saw was a doe chewing placidly, staring at me through the goalposts.

Pity the hunter of World Heritage Sites! A limited time in Copenhagen, and yet I still had that itch to properly visit – to actually set foot inside – the Par Force Hunting Landscape of North Zealand, a site with a lowly 1.94 star rating on this site. And that meant dragging my family with me. So, three days later, there we were, partially retracing our steps to Klampenborg station. A quick crossing of the road found us entering the Jægersborg Dyrehave through the famous (among this community) oxide red-painted wooden gates. We turned right and – within five minutes – found our first deer. Just as the herd on the football pitch had been completely unfazed by the presence of the double-decker train passing 200m away, so too this doe and her fawn picking their way through the undergrowth were unbothered by the four tourists gawping at them. Five minutes. Mission accomplished. Could we go home now?

I feel I’m being unfair to the Par Force Hunting Landscape. Is it a world-class WHS? No it is not. Is it a decent mid-table quietly average WHS? Also no. Is it an example of the spurious fine-grinding that the World Heritage List is now reduced to, to find any facet of human existence that has not specifically been mentioned in a Nomination File and then build that up with superlatives in the hope of inscription? Yes. But a visit is not without its charms, even if there are plenty of other more interesting and enlightening non-World Heritage attractions more worthy of attention in the Copenhagen area.

Firstly, it is an easy day trip from the capital. Indeed, the Jægersborg Dyrehave component is the nearest WHS to Copenhagen (until such time as the Workers’ Assembly Hall is inscribed, as it absolutely should be). Klampenborg is a mere 15 minutes from Nørreport Station on the rail line up to Helsingør. All you have to do then is to follow the horse-drawn traps as they ferry visitors on circuits of the park.

Secondly, well, it’s nice to be out in nature. Coming from the UK the mixed woodland wasn’t exactly exotic to our eyes. Nor was the birdlife (heard more than seen, probably due to it being quite a gusty day). And nor were the fallow deer, of whom we saw quite a few. They did indeed seem thickest on the ground around the Hermitage Castle, specifically down to the west, beyond the golf course (golf? Football? These deer are obviously much fonder of modern sports than those of the 18th century!) Our return journey along the Nordre Skovvej did pass through a stetch of meadow that was absolutely buzzing with large dragonflies, shining in the sun like winged Fabergé eggs as they darted to and fro, though, and slightly further on we scrumped damsons from the trees.

Thirdly, it was a good bit of exercise. Along with the golfers we also saw cyclists, joggers, and other people just like us out for a walk. The kids enjoyed climbing over every fallen tree trunk we passed, and I enjoyed the fresh air.

A distant fourth would be the hunt for any trace of OUV in this managed landscape. From other reviews I was expecting a forest with regular straight access roads radiating out from a central hub, like the spokes of a wheel. Certainly at Jægersborg that isn’t the case. This may be because Jægersborg is specifically described as a ‘hunting park’ whereas Gribskov and Store Dyrehave are ‘hunting forests’. The southern third of Jægersborg has a mixed landscape of light woodland and open grassy meadow. Darker thickets of tangled trees usually seemed to be fenced off, though based on observations from the train line full-on forest seems to be more commonplace the further north you go. The straight intersecting paths (whether ‘star system’ or ‘orthogonal grid pattern’) are not nearly so regularly spaced here as they look to be at Gribskov and Store Dyrehave. Based on the maps on the UNESCO website as well as the leaflets available at the Klampenborg gate, both of which clearly show the original ‘Par force hunting road system’, the main component of this would be a grand equilateral triangle joining the Hermitage hunting lodge in the centre of the park, south down Kristiansholmsvej to Bakken, west along the southern edge of the park on Fortunvej to the Fortun Gate, and then back north east up Kongevej to the Hermitage. Other paths run all the way up the eastern edge of the park, complete the southern edge, and run half way up the western edge. We in no way stuck slavishly to these, instead choosing to follow more naturalistic paths that headed up from Klampenborg Gate to Hermitage and then back down again. Heading up the eastern fringe of the park we largely followed Chausseen, the upper parts of which are part of the hunting road system. We then cut west to the Hermitage where we had our lunch sheltering in the lee of the cuboid palace. I have to say, it really is an eye-catching place raised up on its mound with clear lines of sight to it from all directions. Gazing down to the east from it I was most surprised that we could see all the way down to the shipping lanes offshore. I did admire the Danish king’s commitment to the theme through the use of deer-head motifs in the architecture. We then followed a quieter more winding path between the two spokes of Kristiansholmsvej and Kongevej, the Nordre Skovvej down to the hillier and boggier Ulvedalene section before cutting down to Bakken. Which is where this site really gets odd.

Other commentators have noted that there is a golf course right in the middle of the park, a preposterous state of affairs that baffles me. We even have a Connection for it. Do we have a Connection for fairgrounds? Bakken (‘the Hill’) lies along the southern edge of the park and is quite clearly in the inscribed zone. It is a historic amusement park, complete with roller coasters, dodgems and other theme park rides. We used this as a treat for the kids after their walk in the countryside. After a few rides and a belly full of churros it was then an easy walk back to Klampenborg. There’s definitely some historical precedent for Bakken being included – it gradually grew from a seasonal fair around a fresh water spring into the permanent amusement park seen today and hence claims 1583 as its foundation date, making it the world’s oldest operating amusement park. But that is all post facto rationalisation by me; Bakken is only mentioned three times in passing in the entire Nomination File and not at all in the ICOMOS Evaluation. The point stands: a big ol’ fun fair is an odd thing to find within the boundaries of a that is supposed to be 'emblematic of an absolute European monarch, his role in society, and his reason and power to control nature’.

To conclude: don’t come here to understand the Baroque philosophical foundations of an absolute monarchy and its control over nature. If you must come here to garner a tick you can do so very quickly en route to or from Kronborg, jumping off one train, wandering in through the gate, and heading back to catch the next. You can even do so on a roller coaster. But if you have an extended period in Copenhagen and want to get some fresh air and exercise then you can do far worse than head up to Jægersborg.

World Heritage-iness: 0.5

Our Experience: 2

(Visited August 2025)