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Top Summer Experiences in 2022 – Norway
Sølvgarden is a new hotel built in traditional style in beautiful Setesdal.
A Norway in miniature Sølvgarden at Rysstad in Setesdal offers locals and tourists a taste of one of the most traditional and enthusing areas of Norway. By Eva-Kristin U. Pedersen
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Photos: Sølvgarden
Ever heard of Setesdal? For Norwegians based in the south and the south west, this mountainous valley is a favourite both for skiing in the winter and for hiking in the summer, but tourists from elsewhere often tend to overlook the area. Unfairly so, because Setesdal and its surroundings are a Norway in miniature, where seemingly endless mountains dressed in violet heather and dotted with darkblue mountain lakes are only interrupted by scattered farms in traditional wooden style. In other words, it has a lot to offer. A hidden treasure of local tradition Setesdal is probably one of the areas in Norway where local traditions are best 78 |
Issue 142
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May 2022
upheld. It comes with relative isolation; for example, some of the settlements in Setesdal are so isolated that language here changed more slowly than in the rest of Norway. Far into the ‘90s, elderly people would still speak in a dialect very difficult for people from elsewhere to understand. But it’s not only the dialects that have been preserved. Traditional music and dancing have always been an important feature of life in the area, and not by accident; still today, many of Norway’s top-performing folk musicians and dancers live in Setesdal. Capitalising on all of this is Sølvgarden, a relatively new hotel built in old style
and on even older traditions. The hotel was conceived and constructed by two silversmiths who decided to build a hotel around their workshop on an existing campsite they were already running. And what else could they call it but the Silver Farm, or Sølvgarden in Norwegian?
The origin of Sølvgarden hotel is a silversmith’s workshop, which is still in use.
