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Taste Norway

ENNO

Taste Norway Selected

Small places. Big stories.

These are places chosen on five criteria, before any conversation about money.

None of them paid to be here.
None of them can.

Some are hard to find. That is usually a good sign.

Story 01

The village of Undredal with the fjord and mountains behind it — Undredal, wedged in where the mountain lets go of the fjord.

Undredal Stølsysteri

The milk comes from the dairy's own goats and is made into cheese the same day, unpasteurised.

Three families run it – the first goat's cheese dairy in Norway with full EU approval.

Kvit Undredal Eldgamal, aged over twelve months, took gold at the World Cheese Awards in 2018.

Production runs February to October, Monday to Friday.

A steel vat of curd with a cheese harp across it, steam in the air — The harp lies across the vat, ready to cut the curd.

A cheesemaker in a white coat beside the vat, looking away from the camera — The cheesemaker at the vat, attention on the milk rather than the camera.

Kvit Undredal and Brun Undredal cheese being cut on a wooden board — The two cheeses the village is known for: Kvit Undredal and Brun Undredal.

Story 02

Apple orchard in blossom with the Hardangerfjord behind it — Blossom in the orchard, the Hardangerfjord below.

Steinstø Fruktgard

A brother and a sister run the farm, the eighth generation.

In a normal year the orchards give fifty tonnes of fruit and berries.

Twenty-six varieties of apple grow here, alongside thirteen of pear.

The juice is pressed with no sugar added.

Two people picking apples into canvas bags, a loaded trailer at the end of the row — Two pickers, canvas bags, and a trailer filling at the end of the row.

Cloudy apple juice running from a steel tap into a glass bottle — Cloudy juice running from the tap into the bottle.

Apple cake, cider and coffee on a weathered table above the fjord — Apple cake, cider and coffee, on a table left out to the weather.

Story 03

Fruit trees and hay meadows divided by drystone walls, the fjord behind — Drystone walls still divide the hay meadows from the fruit trees.

Syse Gard

Hans and Helena took over in 1888.

Erling and Sigrid, who run the farm today, are the sixth generation.

There are eight thousand fruit trees here, across ten varieties of apple.

The cider and the juice are made on the farm. The summer café opens from 10 June to 10 August.

Crates of apples in a cool stone store, with a sorting table, scale and a chalk tally — The chalk tally on the wall keeps count of the crates.

One person picking from a wooden ladder while another stacks crates below, the fjord behind — One picks from the ladder, the other stacks the crates below.

A bottle of cloudy cider, apple preserve, bread and cured meat on a worn kitchen table — Cider and apple preserve on the kitchen table, with bread and cured meat.

Story 04

Åkre Gard, with orchards running down to the fjord — The orchards run all the way down to the water.

Åkre Gard

The cider is called Edel, the juice Blaane, the spirit Løynd and the dessert drink Fylgje.

Edel was launched ten years ago.

The farm lies at Nå, down towards the Sørfjord, and receives guests for cider tastings.

The host pours cider for a guest at a plain table by the window — Cider poured at the window table.

Bottles resting on wooden racks in a dim cider cellar, a notebook and hydrometer on a barrel — A notebook and a hydrometer on the barrel. The bottles rest in the dark.

A dusty bottle of cider and a filled glass on the workbench, the press behind — Dust on the bottle, and the press still standing behind it.

Story 05

Øyna Kulturlandskapshotell built into the hillside, eighteen turf roofs level with the fields — Eighteen turf roofs, level with the fields around them. Photo: Øyna

Øyna Kulturlandskapshotell

At the top of Inderøy, eighteen hotel rooms are sunk into the farmland – turf on the roofs, the Trondheimsfjord below.

Kristine and Frode Sakshaug began with farm food from the storehouse in 2000. Twenty years later they opened Norway's first cultural landscape hotel – on 12 June 2020, in the middle of a pandemic.

The food comes from the producers along Den Gyldne Omvei, the Golden Road.

The landscape is not the view. It is the place itself.

Kristine and Frode Sakshaug on the terrace, farmland and fjord behind them — Kristine and Frode Sakshaug, who began with farm food from the storehouse in 2000. Photo: Øyna

A guest sitting in the grass above the turf roofs, the fjord beyond — The roof is also the field. A guest sits above the rooms. Photo: Amanda Sotberg

A wooden table and benches facing the Trondheimsfjord — The table faces the Trondheimsfjord. Photo: Amanda Sotberg

Taste Norway

The list is short on purpose.

A place is added when all five criteria hold, and not before:

Authenticity.
Story.
Quality.
Experience.
Local value.

The next visits are already planned.