Visiting a summer mountain farm

While visiting Rondane I left the national park and went to the valley of Grimsdalen, a protected area located between two national parks, the before mentioned Rondane, and Dovre National Park. I had heard it was one of Norways most beautiful valleys with an old culture for summer mountain farms, and I was not disappointed. There were old cottages, and suddenly I saw a lot of them, high up on the hills. That was Tollevshaugen, were 11 farmers from Dovre still have they old summer barns and cottages.

There are so little fertile soil for crops in Norway that for centuries the farmers had to take their cattle to the mountains to graze during summer, because they needed everything growing close to the farm to feed their animals during winter. This tradition lasted until they got fertilizers and modern farming. So by around 1950 all of them were shut down, and a lot of them decayed and vanished. But some places they were able to keep these small, old houses, and even the old traditions have survived some places. That is keeping animals for grazing in the mountains during summer, and producing cheese and sour milk products the old way.

Bergseng Seter is one of the 11 summer mountain farms at Tollevshaugen. The farmers of Bergseng live here all summer, and they rent five of the small houses for hikers or other visitors. They are all very old, the oldest from 1793, and small. But cozy, and the view towards the mountains of Rondane and the valley is overwhelming. Next time I hope to stay the night up there. Here is a link to more photos.