Solhaug Kano og Fritid
135 km. northeast of Oslo, Norway
NO 969 510 979 MVA
postkassa@solhaug-kano-fritid.no
Phone: +47 62828727 Mobile: +47 95108873
Farmhouse at Solhaug. Picture of Laila and Kjell (hostess/host).
Solhaug
Kano and Fritid (“Canoe and Leisure”) is located at the farm Solhaug; 135
km. northeast of Oslo and 35 km. east of the city Kongsvinger.
It is right on the border to Sweden. The Lake by the farm is divided by the
border line.
Solhaug
is a little farm which traditionally has been dealing with grain, forestry, and
animals. Today, grain and forestry are the only activities left. There are only
poultry (hens) and a cat left...
The
lake by Solhaug is linked to a watercourse which is well suited for canoe
paddling. The watercourse consists of rivers, canals, and small ponds which make
paddling an excotic activity. Thus, activities connected to canoe paddling is
one of the major sources of income at Solhaug today.
The
area around Solhaug is named “the Finnforest” due to the settlement of Finns
during the 17th century. During certain periods this century, the conditions in
Finland were terrible, and they went down south to search for suitable areas to
settle. The Finns were allowed to clear areas in the large forest, and a lot of
them settled as hunters and peasants.
Through
the Finnforest goes the “Finnforest walking path”. You may read more about
this walking path by visiting Glåmdal
Reiseliv. It is actually possible to walk 240 km. on this path. A certain
distance of the path runs close to Solhaug. The Finnforest path is marked and
runs on both Norwegian and Swedish side of the border.
The
Finnforest area is still quite desolate. There are no industry, little
retailing, and little tourism. The farmer still dominates. We who live here like
it this way, and we wish to avoid mass-tourism which other areas seem to struggle
for. Neither the nature nor the neighbors tolerate such a development.
Consequently, we have only limited activity.
The desolated characteristic imply that it is not possible to go to any shopping centre or make any purchase “on the corner”. The only grocery shop is approx. 10 km. away. The local tradesman Asak has been serving us for the last 50 years, and he has just about what we need.
Instead of traditional farming we have changed into leisure activities. Canoe paddling was our new area of development, but we understood that paddling was not enough. A lot of people wants to combine canoeing with other activities; e.g. fishing, hunting, trip to Sweden, swimming, sauna, golfing, and riding. It is our intentions to offer leisure activities with the resourses here at the Finnforest as a point of departure.
We
use our buildings for new purposes. "The Storehouse"
(on pillars), where food used to be stored, facilitates a nice historical
atmosphere as a cabin and for bed & breakfast. “The Littlehouse”, where
clothes where washed and the slaughtering took place, constitutes a nice place
with a big fireplace. The Storehouse and the Littlehouse are old and charming
buildings which are located within the frames of the Solhaug farm. Other
buildings around the farmyard are the main building (where the hosts; Laila and
Kjell live), "the Pumphouse" (with showers, WC’s, sauna), the barn,
a henhouse (with white Italians), a potato basement, and a Grillhouse. All in
all, we think that these facilities constitute the informal milieu that we want
to provide for someone
Welcome to us at Solhaug!
postkassa@solhaug-kano-fritid.no
Phone: +47 62828727 Mobile: +47 95108873