Crime, corruption and sadism? No, the real Sweden is stunning – as I have discovered

I am on my first ever visit to Sweden and enjoying it greatly. My idea of this country had recently become rather confused. I used to picture it as a social democratic paradise, a tolerant, law-abiding welfare state in which everyone was a good and caring citizen. But then came the Wallander television series and the Stieg Larsson books and films in which Sweden was portrayed as a country in which violent crime was rife and corruption, sadism and perversion held sway.

The reality, as I have experienced it over the past few days, has neither upheld nor discredited either of these stereotypes. But this is hardly surprising, since I am here as a member of a small group of discerning English tourists led by my estimable Northamptonshire neighbour Lord Charles FitzRoy, whose company, Fine Arts Travel, correctly claims to offer ‘privileged access to the most beautiful private houses in Europe’.