Norwegian Celebration Cruise - Flam - Holo Farm Page

The Dales drove us further along the valley, up which the famous Flam Railway goes & then turned off up a series of narrow & precipitous zig-zags to the farm at 740 metres. (We had, of course, started at sea level). There was one old lady with two walking poles in our party. Very wise, as from the Dales' parking place, there was some walking to do.

The view from the car park

The Yellow House

Lili Dale, the farmer, in the middle

They took us first to the smoke house, on which they had put a turf roof when the old corrugated iron one had had it. I tried a couple of photos of what I could not see & one, fortunately, had sausages in it. They also smoke lamb, pork & cheese.

Back of the Smoke House

Inside the Smoke House

Front of the Smoke House

The brewery was nearer the house & had traditional large copper kettles for boiling the mash. We sampled a light-coloured but heavy beer & a darker one that was not so alcoholic, "only" 5%. It is quite hard to get a brewer's certificate in Norway. They are almost as Lutheran about it as the Swedes, where you need to take out a mortgage to buy a pint.

The Brewery

Inside the Brewery

The licence in the Brewery

Then, we were ushered in to the Yellow House. They do not actually live in this but in another further down among the outhouses. The Yellow House is like a museum & had been in poor condition before they restored it. We were sat round a long table & had a buffet of smoked meats, sausage & cheese, with home-made bread & something breddy & hard, rather like a pappadom, then cake. To drink was more beer, both sorts; coffee; tea & their home-made apfelsaft. They explained more about the farm (there are 40 sheep, which they have to keep inside for 6 months) & showed some slides. Mrs Dale said that tinned kippers are now unobtainable in Norway, which I noted. We were supposed to leave to get back to the ship at 1230 but that came & went on a vote. I think they would have stayed for ever, given the mood. As there were no afternoon tours, there was no reason to leave early & we eventually got back at 1320. This was a very different tour from any we have been on before. Holo Farm is on this link.

Rjoandefossen waterfall now below us

The other farm buildings

The Buffet