Every design for Ikast

From the top of Ikast-tårnet, the former water tower in the centre of town, you look out across the middle of Jutland, equally far from the coasts to the east and the west. Down inside, the tower keeps a small waterworks museum. Ikast made its name in textiles: people here and around Herning are known as uldjyder, wool Jutlanders, and the area is called Uldjylland after the knitwear trade that once filled its factories.

Pride in Ikast often comes in sports kit. Ikast Håndbold is among the most successful clubs in Danish women's handball, FC Midtjylland trains in town, and Ikast FS, one of the clubs that founded it, once held its own in the top division. The footballer Pernille Harder, twice named the best in Europe, was born here, and so was the opera singer Bo Skovhus. The covered pedestrian street keeps the shops dry, and Frisenborg Skulpturpark brings art outdoors.

Out on the western edge, Hjertet gives young people skate ramps and scooter tracks, while somewhere in town a giant spinning wheel still stands as the emblem of one of the textile firms.