Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Autumn & Winter Experiences in Norway
In Arctic awe If there is something called a comprehensive experience of northern Norway’s most spectacular nature surroundings, Huset på Yttersiden (Norwegian for “the house on the outer edge”) and its package trips are clear-cut candidates. Taking excellent care of visitors from all over the world, the destination and its team have quickly made a name for themselves as enablers of breathtaking encounters with northern splendour. By Julie Lindén | Photos: Huset på Yttersiden
“My favourite thing about the job I do is seeing how nature can change people forever,” Ann Karina Jakobsen, manager of the lodge and activity centre, enthuses. “There is a mental change that happens in close contact with an environment this spectacular. Here you can see the Northern Lights from August all throughout winter, for instance, and I cannot begin to count the people who have left here in complete awe of that kind of show.” Offering a range of autumnal travel and activity packages, including eagle safari tours and photography courses in the wild, Jakobsen and her Vesterålen-based team know the impact a truly majestic nature experience can have. Eagerly explaining how guests are picked up at the airport, taken to the lodge and provided full
room and board for their entire stay, Jakobsen underlines the importance of providing something extra to all visitors’ everyday lives. “It’s important to us that guests have a real chance to relax, enjoy locally produced foods and fresh fish in our rustic restaurant, learn about the nature and animal life up here, and simply enjoy the wonders of the north.” The local experience can be taken even further by participating in the Arctic Autumn programme, including visits to a Sami-run reindeer farm, an Arctic light photo safari, kayaking trips and much more. For more information, please visit: www.yttersiden.no
Great outdoors, great indoors When Iris Fivelstad bought Villa Norangdal in 1996, the main purpose was simply to get the elaborate villa in the ‘Sunnmøre Alps’ back in the family. Less than 20 years later, the villa is more than restored to its former glory, serving as a picturesquely located boutique hotel, steeped in history and surrounded by breathtaking mountain views. By Hannah Gillow Kloster | Photos: Villa Norangdal
As manager Ellen Fivelstad, sister of Iris, explains, the sisters’ great-great-grandparents ran Villa Norangdal in the 1880s, “when it was a hot-spot for jetsetting European royalty such as Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.” Since Iris bought it back, it has been restored from “a castle for bats full of broken windows,” as Ellen Fivelstad describes it, to a six-room boutique hotel focused on design history, with
each room decorated according to a different decade in the 20th century. Today, Villa Norangdal serves as the perfect starting point for hikers in summer and autumn, skiers in winter and spring, and enthusiasts of Norwegian design and local food during any season – truly ‘mountainpolitan’. “We have a commitment to local food: we get our meats from the local butcher and our beer
from a local brewer who happens to share the same great-grandparents,” Fivelstad explains. Not only awarded the Olavsrosa, or St. Olav’s Rose (the Norwegian cultural heritage hallmark), for its remarkable commitment to history, heritage and design history, Villa Norangdal is also a so-called ‘Miljøfyrtårnbedrift’ (an Eco Lighthouse Business), committed to protecting the nature that surrounds it on every side.
Villa Norangdal is hosting a Yoga Retreat in collaboration with Yoganorth in Bodø 11-14 September.
For more information, please visit: www.norangdal.com www.yoganorth.no
Yoga Instructor Helen Christensen
Issue 68 | September 2014 | 53