Smågårde naturskog, Naturreservat

Just a stone's throw from Tofta beach is the small forest area Smågårde naturskog. Here you can escape from the beach life and experience peace and quiet in a beautiful natural forest.

Smågårde nature forest consists of an almost entirely wooded part of the area with flying sand dunes that stretches from Gnisvärd's fishing village down to Tofta södra. The purpose of Smågårde nature reserve is to allow the area's forest to develop freely and eventually take on an increasingly primeval forest-like character. But already today the forest has high natural values. There are spruces with a circumference of over two meters and several 160-year-old pines.

Inside the forest grows, among other things, linnea, a species that on Gotland only occurs in forests on sandy soil. Closer to the sea, the forest thins out, and here there are completely open sunlit sandy areas, an important environment for many species of insects. Common plants in the open sandy areas include thyme, field bindweed, purple coneflower and creeping willow.

The Nature Conservation Society has built a nature trail through the area. The path starts opposite the entrance to Tofta Strandpensionat.