6 kmVejers Beach and Plantation
A wide beach and plantation are a natural next stop in the same west coast landscape.
Kallesmærsk Hede is not an ordinary natural area. Here, dune heath, dunes, hollows and lakes meet an active military firing and training area, where access changes according to the Danish Defence’s activities. This combination gives the place its special character: expansive west coast nature, but with signs, barriers and an exercise calendar as an essential part of finding your way around.
Oksbøl Skyde- og Øvelsesterræn is divided into a firing range and a training area. The firing range at Kallesmærsk Hede is used for live-fire exercises, while the training area north of Vejers Havvej may be open to the public when no military exercises are taking place. Always check access using the Danish Defence’s information boards at the access roads and the current monthly schedules.
The area is also part of Naturpark Vesterhavet and the Natura 2000 area around Kallesmærsk Hede, Grærup Langsø, Fiilsø and Kærgård Klitplantage. The terrain also contains traces of the settlements that disappeared after the expropriations; empty houses with boarded-up doors and windows stand as a quiet reminder that this landscape is at once nature, a military training ground and local history. Do not pick up objects found in the area.
Open Heath is the Army's recurring public event on Kallesmærsk Heath between Blåvand and Vejers. Here, modern artillery, mortars and tanks are showcased in the active Oksbøl Shooting & Training Area.
The public can get close to live firing, but only according to the principle: as close as possible, as far away as necessary. Photography is allowed, drones are prohibited, and hearing protection is a practical part of the day.
The abandoned houses are traces of the military expropriations near Oksbøl in 1967-1970. The armed forces needed a larger, contiguous training area, and smaller settlements around, among others, Børsmose, Grærup and Vejers disappeared.
Today, a few farms, smallholdings and houses remain with boarded-up doors and windows. They are located in an area where live firing and exercises may still take place, so access depends on the armed forces’ barriers and firing times.
