Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Discover the Norwegian Cottage Dream
Log cabins rooted in Norwegian folk tales Torkel Skinnes Myhre’s family farm has constructed traditional Norwegian log cabins of wood from his family farm in eastern Norway for almost two decades. By using timber dating back 200 years, his log cabin business, Hovin Laft, aims to provide quality steeped in history. By Ingvild Vetrhus | Photos: Hovin Laft AS
Famous 19th century author Peter Christen Asbjørnsen wrote his acknowledged A Grouse Hunt in Holleia after a stroll through the then young woods of Nedre Hovin. Today, the same trees are used in Hovin Laft’s log cabin production. Log houses have been built in Norway since the Viking Age, and log timbering was one of the main construction methods in the country until the mid-1800s. Myhre’s farm, Nedre Hovin, is located in the heart of Norway’s fifth-largest lake, Tyrifjorden, an hour’s drive from Oslo. Today, the farm is surrounded by 75 acres of cultivated land and grazing suckling cows. In 1998, Myhre saw the importance of utilising the valuable commodities of his forest area of 200 acres. By using the wood from its own farm, Hovin Laft is probably the only log cabin manufacturer in Norway that takes on the entire production process, “from the tree stump to the moment the cabin is ready for use”, as Myhre explains. 96 | Issue 95 | December 2016
By outsourcing part of the production to the Baltics, the business can deliver a range of different styles, both traditional and modern. “We are the only log cabin business in Norway that produces both locally and abroad. This means that we can also provide affordable cabins at different price levels,” says Myhre.
place, and emphasises the excellency of the business’s fireplace specialists and brick layers. Deciding not to take on too many projects at the same time, Hovin Laft ensures high quality and proper customer followup. “We build the cabins as we would have built them for ourselves. We take great pride in what we do,” says Myhre.
Availability is also a key factor in terms of customer relationships, which are highly valued by the business. “We engage personally in every project we encounter,” says Myhre, who has made his logging business into a lifestyle. To meet the needs of their customers, Myhre, together with co-owner Håvard Stave Kristiansen, is available for consultation around the clock. Hovin Laft specialises in hand-crafted log cabins and ‘stavlaft’, a technique that was used when constructing Norwegian stave churches. However, Myhre insists that the true jewel of a cabin is the fire-
For more information, please visit: www.hovinlaft.no