We'd had it with typical family holiday destinations — crowds, traffic jams, and getting up ridiculously early to find some shade on the beach. Looking for an alternative, we stumbled on the surprising answer — West Sweden.

We were looking for open space as an antidote to London life for our children, Alexander, 9, and Suzanna, 3. And that’s exactly what we found as we headed to Dalsland, with its lakes and forests, through undulating fields and woodland dotted with red and white wooden houses.

Here, about two hours inland from Gothenburg, we found Stenebynäs. This 100-hectare (247 acres) estate comes with four traditional wooden houses owned by the Berger family, who run a self-catering operation along their own 6km (4 miles) stretch of lake.

On the more touristy west coast, where we spent the second week of our holiday, Swedes looked in blank disbelief when we said we’d been in Dalsland. It’s off the beaten track, all right, but if you like jumping off jetties into deliciously cool water, helping yourself to a canoe or rowing boats to explore the shore, midnight saunas, mushroom-hunting and elk spotting, these boondocks are unbeatable.

Over white wine and slivers of tender cured beef from their herd of Highland cattle, Steffan and his wife Maria revealed Dalsland’s hidden delights. Pony rides for the children, the best beaches for lakeside swimming, a meal at Falkholt’s Gestgifveri. Here we dined on smoked beaver, minced poached pike and elk steak.

We later met relatives of the elk, in the company of Carl, a local hunter and woodsman. As he drove us on an “elk safari” around their regular watering holes at dusk, it became clear that Carl is a bit of a guru on the local wildlife. The local police call him when a wounded elk has disappeared back into the forest, and he’ll track it with his dogs for days.

Natural attractions of a very different kind are just two hours away by car — a spectacularly beautiful 480km stretch of rocky inlets, dotted with thousands of tiny islands. In summer the water heaves with speedboats and yachts. The Koster islands, up by the border with Norway, claim to enjoy more hours of sunshine than anywhere else along the west coast. It may sound implausible, but during our visit temperatures reached 30C (86F).

The big attraction for families on the Kosters is that cars are not allowed: bicycles are the thing. After a day in the saddle, and climbing 101 steps up to a lookout point with a spectacular 360-degree view of the coast, we felt we had earned our supper.

The Ekenäs Skärgårdshotell didn’t disappoint, with excellent food — poached fresh flat fish in lobster sauce for us, and burgers for the children.

Seafood is the big attraction at Handlesman Flink, a restaurant on Flaton Island, down the coast towards Gothenburg. It’s so popular that they have built waterside rooms for the visitors who come from miles away to sample its smoked salmon, lobster, smoked mackerel and cured herrings.

“Even I haven’t got used to those,” said the owner, Stefan, who took us for a tour of the pretty old fishing villages of Gulhomen and Grunsound in his speedboat.

Now it’s mostly oil-rich Norwegians who bask on the decks of their quaint timber waterside cottages. English visitors, however, are still a bit of a novelty in West Sweden. There had been only four other British guests all summer at the Ekenäs Skärgårdshotell.

It’s time we started getting to know it better.

Need to know

Getting there: A two-week holiday in August costs £1,242pp, £279 for children under 12, including flights and car hire. Book through Emagine UK Ltd (0870 9025399, www.emagine-travel.co.uk).

Further information: West Sweden (www.vastsverige.com), Gothenburg (www.goteborg.com), Sweden (www.visit-sweden.com).

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?