Plate I
This site describes a property with a gaming room. Please confirm you are 18 or over.
Folio of the high plateau · Fjærland
In July the plateau meadows are in flower and the light lasts until we no longer need it; the wind sits north-east most afternoons.
Plate II · The setting
The house sits on the plateau shelf above the village, four hundred metres up from the Sognefjord's inner reach. The Jostedalsbreen ice cap holds the north horizon; the Mundalsdalen valley opens south to meadow and pine. We are ninety minutes by road from Sogndal, four hours from Bergen, and one hour from the coastal steamer at Hella.
You arrive by the mountain road that climbs above the village in slow, steady bends. We meet the last kilometre with a lantern if the weather has taken the light early. The plateau silences the road behind you the moment you step out of the car.
Plate III · The rooms
Rooms are dressed in undyed wool, local pine and warm earthenware. We set the hour of your coffee, your breakfast and, if you wish it, your northern-lights call. Rates are quoted per stay as full-board arrangements, on enquiry, a written note by post or email brings a written reply.
Pl. III · a
A corner room facing the ice-fed valley, its bed dressed in undyed wool and its writing table set with a stoneware pitcher for morning water. The window seat holds a folded plateau map and a lamp warm enough to read by at four in the morning.
Full-board arrangement, quoted per stay on enquiry.
Pl. III · b
Two rooms under a low painted ceiling, panelled in local pine and hung with a botanical plate of plateau lichens. A slow-coffee tray of single farms is set at the hour you choose, and the northern-lights call is left on the pillow with the weather note.
Full-board arrangement, quoted per stay on enquiry.
Pl. III · c
The house library and waffle-hour room, its long table laid at four with cloudberry preserves and the day's fjord-larder breakfast leftovers. Shelves hold the plateau's own monographs, geology, moss, weather, for guests to take upstairs.
Included with any stay; not let as a bedroom.
A word from the house
"We set the coffee tray at the hour you name and the waffle iron warms itself at four; the northern-lights call is left with the weather note on your pillow. The plateau does most of our work, we open the shutters at the right moment and stay out of the way."
— the house, on a July evening
Plate IV · The table
Breakfast is laid slowly from seven, on the long pine table that runs the length of the south wall. Cold-smoked mackerel from the arm below, buttermilk from a single farm at Mundal, cloudberry preserve set the day before, dark rye from the plateau bakery, and warm porridge from the pot. The slow-coffee counter runs on three single farms; we brew each to the hour and note which one you preferred, so tomorrow's tray comes to you.
Waffle hour begins at four in the Supphelle Reading Room, heart-shaped, off the plateau iron, with cloudberry preserves and sour cream. Tea service follows for those who stay for the long light. On Fridays the smokehouse tasting of the day's fjord catch is set at six, in the courtyard when the weather allows.
Plate V · The sauna raft & the plateau bath
Pl. V · a
A cedar sauna moored on the plateau tarn, six paces from the cold-plunge ladder. Sessions from three in the afternoon, wool robes on the hook, and the plateau silence for company.
Pl. V · b
Tarn water sits at eleven degrees in July and four in September. Three rungs, no ceremony; the house keeps a warm towel on the rail and a pot of plateau tea in the changing hut.
Pl. V · c
Three marked lines leave the house: the ridge to Bøyabreen (two hours), the meadow round to Mundalsdalen (an afternoon), and the short lantern walk to the tarn for the last light of the day.
Pl. V · d
Left on the pillow the evening before with the weather note. When the plateau sky clears between eleven and two, we tap once at the door and set a wool blanket outside it.
Plate VI · The Casino
The art-lined gaming gallery of the house: a single long room hung with commissioned plateau studies, where a handful of tables sit under low brass lamps. Guests are welcomed for an evening's play as they would be for any other room of the house, quietly, without ceremony, in the clothes they wore to dinner.
The gaming salon is open to guests aged 18 and over; guests who look under 25 will be asked for ID.
Plate VII · Questions
By the mountain road from Fjærland village, ninety minutes from Sogndal or four hours from Bergen. The coastal steamer at Hella is an hour away; we meet the last kilometre with a lantern when the weather has taken the light early.
Yes, a gravel court for eight cars, sheltered by the north wall. In winter we keep it cleared and salted; we ask that engines are switched off at the gate.
What you wore to dinner. A jacket for gentlemen after ten in the evening. The room is quiet; conversation stays inside it.
The ground floor, the dining room, the reading room and one suite are step-free from the courtyard. The sauna raft is reached by a short wooden ramp. Please write to us and we will describe the route in detail.
Long light, meadow flowers, and a north-easterly most afternoons. Temperatures on the plateau sit ten to sixteen degrees; the ice cap keeps a cool edge on the wind.
Plate VIII · Correspondence
A written note by post or email brings a written reply. Tell us the dates you have in mind, how many are in your party, and which of the rooms reads to you. We reply within one business day, with a full-board arrangement quoted per stay for your consideration.
Ege Garden