Vennerslund was originally called Stadager and took its name after the village it was situated in. The first known owners was Folmer Folmersen who owned it in 1351. The estate was later owned by the Lunge family and from the middle of the 15th century by the Venstermand family. Lave Venstermand became the last member of the family to own the estate. In 1576 he ceded it to king Frederick II in exchange for Pederstrup on Lolland. Frederick II renamed the estate Sophieholm after his wife sin Sophie of Mecklenburg but its old name was reintroduced in 1583.
1765–1809:Vennerslund and Kirstineberg
sold the royal holdings on Falster in auction 1766 to make payments on the Danish sovereign debt. The land was divided into eight parcels, each of which forming the basis of a new manor house with associated tenant farms. Parcel number seven was acquired by Hans Tersling and Peder Thestrup who constructed a house on the land and named the estate Vennerslund. A second manor house was built on the land in 1773 after the tenant farmers had complained about the long distances they had to cover to work in the fields. The new manor house was given the name Kirstineberg after Tersling's wife Kirstine. Tersling died in 1785 and his widow Kirstine Tersling became the sole owner of Vennerslund and Kirstineberg four years later. When she then married Jakob Edvard Colbjørnsen, it was decided in a prenuptial that Vennerslund was to be passed on to her son from her first marriage, Jørgen Tersling, while Kirstineberg would be passed on to the Colbjørnsen family.
1809–present: The Grandjean family
Jørgen Tersling sold Vennerslund to Carl Vincens Grandjean in 1800. Grandjean established Det Grandjean'ske Legathus in the parish prior to his death in 1844. He had no children and Vennerslund was therefore passed on to his nephew Ludvig Grandjean. Ludvig Grandjean founded the stamhus Vennerslund in accordance with his uncle's will from 1840 with the result that it could no longer be sold or divided between heirs. Vincens Grandjean took over the estate in 1930 in accordance with lensafløsningslovenfrom 1919.
Architecture
The current main building is from 1845 and was built by the architect Otto Michael Glahn in the Late Empire style for Ludvig Grandjean. It is a rectangular, two-storey brick building with white finishing and a median risalit tipped by a triangular pediment on both sides. A horizontal band is located between the first and second floor and a frieze with masks and stucco rosettas runs below the roof. A cast iron staircase leads up to the main entrance. The interior of the building is decorated in the Late Neoclassical style. The main building was subject to a major renocation in 1942. The main building fronts a large courtyard to the east. The courtyard is surrounded by farm buildings on the other sides. The garden is located to the south and west of the main building. The farm buildings are generally older than the main building and have timber framing. A number of other buildings are located to the north and west of the complex. The old, half-timbered main building from the 1770s is located just south of the new main building.
Today
Vennerslyst is currently owned by Kim Vincens Bille Brockenhuus-Schack. He is the seventh generation of the grandjean family on the estate. The estate has a total area of 1010 hectares of which 670 hectares are farmland 340 hectares are woodland.
