Hvidsten Kro

Hvidsten Kro is one of the oldest of the 113 inns granted 'royal privilege'. It was founded in 1634, originally in the village of Hald, to serve travellers between Randers and Mariager. When the road was revised in 1790 to pass through Hvidsten, the inn moved with it. Rumour has it that one of the actual reasons was poor relations between the innkeeper and the local priest in Hald.

 

A farm belonged to the inn at that time, and it still does. Being an innkeeper was not a particularly lucrative profession, the area was poor, there were few travellers on the road, and sometimes days could go by without even selling a cup of coffee. No surprise then, that there were many changes of ownership right up to 1884 when the Fiil family took over.

 

The first Fiil to own the inn was Niels, the son of Peder Fiil, an apprentice carpenter, who fell in love with the daughter of a local farmer while working in the area. The girl's father was against them getting married, because he was a farm owner and Peder merely a tradesman. The local priest and renowned poet, Steen Steensen Blicher, in Spentrup, heard of the matter and decided to help the young couple. He married them in his study without the father being any the wiser. The story is told in a fine frieze inside the inn's conservatory, restored in 2001.

 

The couple had a son, who they named Niels Pedersen Fiil. When Niels had grown up, they bought Hvidsten Kro for him in 1884. He married Nicoline, and the couple became known as "Kro Peder" and "Kro Line". They were a prudent and hard-working couple, whose motto was: "Everything in moderation!"

Niels and Nicoline's son Marius was born in 1893. He and his wife Gudrun were the ones who really left their mark on the inn. When Kro Line died in 1925, Marius and Gudrun moved to the inn. They were both very industrious, but even so, Marius had to supplement their income as a postman, bringing in an extra 5 kroner a day. Kro Peder died in 1934, the same year as his 50th anniversary at the inn. Ownership officially transferred to Marius and Gudrun at this time.

Marius and Gudrun succeeded in generating a lot of activity at the inn, and Marius developed a habit of bringing all sorts of things home from his constant travels to create a special atmosphere. On a good summer's day, they could have up to 1,000 guests. Gudrun and Marius celebrated their silver wedding anniversary on 7 September 1942 by throwing a big party at the inn. They were both brought up to be prudent, but with a glint in his eye, Marius said in his speech: "But first and foremost, I want to say thanks to Gudrun, because she said 'yes' on the phone, and said it so quickly that I only had to pay for three minutes".

 

After the war, Gudrun ran the inn alone until she died in 1972. Her grandchild Gudrun and her husband Carl Paetch took over on 1 July 1972. The fifth generation of the Fiil family became innkeepers at Hvidsten Kro in 1999, when Søren Fiil Paetch and his wife Christina took over from his parents.