BRA KØY A
Christmas & New Year’s on the Island O U R SE V E NTH SE ASO N · SAM P LE F IV E -DAY ITINE RARY LOFOTE N · N ORWA Y · 68.34 73° N · 15.0112° E
Two private stays, one at Christmas and one at New Year's. Each for a single family or close group of up to twelve, with our whole team and the island to yourselves.
O UR SE VE N TH SE A SO N · THE MI DWI N TE R FE A ST
OUR SEVENTH SEASON
The light turns colors you have never seen. We get seven seasons at Brakøya, and this is the last of them. From the first week of December to the first week of January the sun does not clear the peaks — but it does not go dark either, which is the common misconception. Dawn and dusk stretch out into blåtimen, the blue hour: four or five hours of rose, lilac and a deep soft blue. After that it is stars, moon, and northern lights coming off the snow. Indoors, the sauna runs every night, there is a plunge in the fjord for anyone who dares, and a table is set from Christmas to New Year's.
THE L I GHT
No sunrise. Blåtimen runs around midday — four to five hours of changing color.
THE COLD
Coastal, not continental. Usually between −4°C and +2°C (25– 36°F), rarely harsher.
THE A UR OR A
Any clear night, from late afternoon onward.
THE STA Y
One group per holiday. Up to twelve guests, four nights or more.
O UR SE VE N TH SE A SO N · THE MI DWI N TE R FE A ST
EVERY STAY
Into the Blue Blåtimen — the blue hour — is what the north has instead of daylight at midwinter: dawn and dusk stretched into four or five hours of deep, even blue. Most guests arrive just after it, in the dark, which is the right way to arrive. The run out from Hanøy takes about thirty minutes, and we take it slowly and go in past the mouth of the Trollfjord on the way — an entrance only a hundred meters across, with walls running six to nine hundred meters straight up on either side. Then the island appears, as a handful of lit windows on black water.
AR R IVING
Fly to Evenes and drive to Hanøy, where the boat is waiting at the pier Or fly into Svolvær and come the last stretch by boat — or by helicopter from Evenes, direct to the island Either way the run in goes past the Trollfjord, which we make a point of doing
EVENING
Welcome on the dock and settle into the Main House — no two rooms alike, each one facing the water The first sauna, and the sea straight after it for anyone brave enough on night one A long dinner in the Dining House by candlelight, with nowhere else to be
DA Y 1 O F 5
EVERY STAY
Skumre MOR NING
A slow breakfast as the sky begins to change color The chef starts the Christmas baking — seven varieties of cookies, if you do it the old way like we do
BLUE HOUR
Blåtimen is the light; to skumre is what you do with it — sit by the window and watch the colors animate the sky. Ideally with a good cup of tea or coffee Then out on snowshoes while the light holds — along the shore, or up onto the slopes behind the island Gather around the bonfire on sheepskin with something sweet from the morning's baking
EVENING
The sauna, the plunge, the fire Out into the dark for the first proper look at the northern lights
DA Y 2 O F 5
EVERY STAY
The Night Before MOR NING
No schedule, and something already in the oven by the time you are up Out with the skipper to pull the crab traps, or treasure hunting on the shore
BLUE HOUR
The best of the light, spent outside — snowshoes along the water, or a walk up behind the houses for the view down the sound If the snow has come and the light allows, the guides will take you out on skis — downhill or cross-country, whichever the day suits Hot chocolate at the bonfire, wrapped in sheepskin, while the peaks go from rose to lilac
EVENING
A long dinner, and the fire after it Back out into the dark for the lights, which are usually there and are always worth the cold
DA Y 3 O F 5
CHRISTMAS ONLY · 24 DECEMBER
Christmas Eve In Norway the whole of Christmas lands on the twenty-fourth — the tree in the afternoon, the dinner in the evening, the presents after it. We are glad to do it that way, or entirely your way, or some invention in between. Tell us beforehand and the day is built around it.
MOR NING
Axe in hand and into the forest to find the tree, which comes back to be decorated by the fireplace Gingerbread in the oven, and nothing else asked of anyone
BLUE HOUR
The bells carry over the water from the mainland in the early afternoon, as they have here for a century If you want the Norwegian version: rice porridge with cinnamon and butter, one almond hidden in the pot, and the marzipan pig to whoever finds it
EVENING
Dinner the old way — slow-roasted pork belly with crackling, or cured lamb ribs steamed over birch — or whatever your family eats on Christmas Eve, cooked properly Aquavit, presents by the tree, and the northern lights dancing above if the sky is clear
DA Y 4 O F 5
NEW YEAR ’S O NL Y · 3 1 DEC EM B ER
New Year’s Eve Christmas is for slowing down. New Year's is for waking up. The kitchen works all day, the sauna is lit by mid-afternoon and stays lit, and nobody is going anywhere until well into the first morning of the year.
MOR NING
A late start, deliberately — the day is long and the night is longer King crab and langoustines come up from the sea, and the kitchen begins on a dinner that will take most of the day
BLUE HOUR
An hour outside while the color is still in the sky — a short walk, or the wood-fired tub on the deck with the peaks going rose Champagne on ice, and the sauna lit and left running
EVENING
A long multi-course dinner, cooked alongside our chef Midnight on the dock: fireworks off the water, the aurora if we are lucky, and the fjord throwing all of it back
DA Y 4 O F 5
EVERY STAY
The Morning After MOR NING
Breakfast whenever. Nobody will come looking for you The plunge into the Arctic sea and a shot of aquavit for anyone who wants it — on the first of January, it is how the year is properly greeted
BLUE HOUR
The sauna, the sea and the tub, in whatever order and however many times Or the sweetness of doing nothing at all, which is an equally correct use of the day
DEPAR TING
A last coffee out on the dock in the dark The boat back to Hanøy and the drive to Evenes — or out by Svolvær, or by helicopter from the island
DA Y 5 O F 5
OUR SEVENTH SEASON
What midwinter makes possible.
The Midwinter Feast is the seventh of our seven seasons — the shortest of them and the most particular. The light is brief but extraordinary, the sea is still working, and the table is where every day ends. Skiing depends on two things in late December: enough snow, and enough light to use it. Some years both have arrived by Christmas and the guides will take you out. Nothing is set in stone — we build the days around your party and whatever adventures each day provides for.
ON THE WA TE R
ON LA N D & SN OW
THE HOUSE & THE TA B LE
C R A FT & WE LLB E I N G
Winter cod fishing with the skipper
Snowshoeing at blue hour
Christmas baking — the seven varieties
The badstu ritual — sauna, sea, wood-fired tub
Crab traps
Skiing when conditions allow — downhill or cross-country
Gingerbread in the oven
Å skumre — watching the light change
Rice porridge with the hidden almond
Massage and skin treatment
Christmas Eve dinner, your way or the old way
Yoga and pilates
New Year's Eve, multi-course with our chef
Painting, whittling, shell work
Champagne and aquavit
Talks: history, wildlife, the dark season
Cocktail course
Live music in the house
Long-table dinners every night
The sweetness of doing nothing
King crab and langoustines Island-hopping by boat The Trollfjord by boat Trip to Henningsvær Sea eagle watching The cold plunge, every night
Walks to the point and the far shore Cutting your own Christmas tree Sledging for the children Aurora watching from the dock Photography — aurora and blue hour Stargazing
Experiences vary with weather, sea state, snow and the aurora. Some are included; some carry a supplement. Travel advisor enquiries welcome.
O UR SE VE N TH SE A SO N · THE MI DWI N TE R FE A ST