The story of Ib and Little Christina the eel-boatman’s daughter is set in the

The story of Ib and Little Christina, the eel-boatman’s daughter, is set in the area; others were inspired while he mused upon the view. He wrote: “Rushing water and the wild duck’s call are the only sounds at Silkeborg. Legend has it that Drewsen, scion of wealthy Copenhagen industrialists, launched his silk hat on the waters, establishing the town where the current beached it.The author’s favourite composition spot above the Almindso lake was installed with his now-eponymous bench. The region’s capital, Silkeborg, now a vibrant lake-side town, scarcely existed in 1850 when Andersen arrived to stay with its founder, the paper magnate Michael Drewsen.

For Hans Christian Andersen, aged 45 and the international king of make-believe, it was love at first sight. The tireless traveller had discovered in his cosy homeland a likeness of the landscapes that had thrilled him on his 30 Europe-wide journeys. The Mid-Jutland Highlands may be vertically challenged, but their lake-studded forests and wide heaths drew him back repeatedly, funding many stories.This was Denmark’s Wild West. As they say in Jutland, “mosekonen brygger” – “the bog woman is brewing her nocturnal vapours”. “Shouldn’t we be going?” It takes a woman to say what a man only thinks.Still, the lovely Danish lake district – for most outsiders Denmark’s best-kept secret – is more fairy tale than horror story. His brain, internal organs, hair and genitalia were so perfectly preserved that they thought he was a victim of a recent crime Today few people come here Suddenly an owl shrieks. A rotting tree stump marks the spot where, in 1950, peat cutters’ shovels returned him to the light.

Somewhere nearby, with a noose made from hide, a man had been slowly strangled to death. His was a sacrifice to aqueous gods, his body buried in the bogs of the sacred grove of Tollund – an anonymous Iron Age man whose haunting image would, two millennia later, become a universal ancestral portrait.
In the lonely Bjaelskov valley, among a scattering of tumuli and the glinting eyes of fen pools, it feels as though little has changed since. “OK, it’s getting spooky now.” A ground mist seeping out of the dusk is bleaching the dwarf oaks into menacing spectres This is definitely not the Denmark of the Little Mermaid. La Terrazza Danieli (00 39 041 522 6480; /danieli), Hotel Danieli, Castello 4196, Venice, Italy.

However, sitting at a table in the L-shaped interior, you’ll still get the romantic view through the floor-to-ceiling windows. If you’re lucky you might also catch concert rehearsals from the nearby Doge’s Palace.THE BILLA three-course meal for two with wine costs around €250 (£180). Fresh fish from the lagoon and the Adriatic also features heavily on the menu. And then of course, there are the bellinis, which some claim to be superior to those at Harry’s Bar, the Venetian venue where the drink was invented.THE VIEWLa Terrazza Danieli commands some spectacular vistas, notably of the lagoon and Isola di San Giorgio, the Grand Canal and the Doge’s Palace. As the name suggests, the most coveted tables – during the warmer months at least – are those on the terrace overlooking the lagoon, where you can dine al fresco for breakfast, lunch and dinner.