We had barely rolled off the ferry at Visby when the sat nav decided to send us down a single-track lane that turned out to be someone's driveway. By the time we reversed out, laughing and apologising to a bemused farmer, the late-September light had already started to soften and the air carried that first cool edge of autumn. It was exactly the sort of small cock-up that sets the tone for a proper Gotland break, and it felt right somehow.

The house in Laerbro sat just off a quiet road, surrounded by fields that had already been cut for hay. The low wooden building looked exactly like the photos, only more lived-in: pale grey cladding, a generous veranda, and a garden that still held a few late roses. We dragged our bags inside and the first thing that struck us was the smell of woodsmoke from the stove someone had lit earlier in the day. It mixed with the faint salt in the air that never quite leaves you on this island, even ten kilometres inland.

Because it was the shoulder season, everything felt slower and emptier in the best way. The local supermarket in Laerbro closed at six, so we hurried over for bread, cheese and a bottle of wine before the shutters came down. We ended up eating on the veranda while the temperature dropped just enough to make jumpers necessary. A neighbour's cat wandered over to inspect us, decided we were harmless, and settled on the spare chair.

That first evening we walked the short loop behind the house, past meadows turning copper and rust. The light lasted longer than we expected for late September, but once the sun dropped the chill came quickly. We lit the stove properly and sat with our feet up, listening to the occasional car on the main road and the occasional sheep in the field next door. It was peaceful without being dramatic; just the sort of quiet you forget you need until you have it.

I caught myself wondering, as the flames settled, whether we would have noticed the season quite so clearly if we'd come in July. The crowds would have been thicker, the evenings lighter, the whole pace different. Instead we got the tail end of summer and the beginning of something else, and it made the place feel more like ours for a few days. The little sat-nav mishap already seemed like part of the story rather than an inconvenience.