The History of the Frøy&Frøya Cabins
in the municipality Øystre Slidre in the Valdres region
All the cabins were collected due to a special interest in preserving old buildings. It was Anna Fuglesteg's idea to bring them together into a cluster for rental purposes, while it was her husband, Erling Fuglesteg, who took on the task of carrying this out. The buildings were dismantled log by log, marked, and then moved and reassembled here. The dismantling process took place during the years 1971–73. Permits were obtained, and reconstruction of the buildings began, with Låvin, early in the spring of 1975.
Låvin (The Barn):
The building was originally the second floor of a structure that combined a stable and a sheep barn. The second floor, as the name implies, was the barn. There was a drive ramp leading to the barn, which is now the entrance area. Below what is now the living room was the stable, while the sheep barn was at the other end of the building. Transporting feed to the barn was hard work, as it had to be both loaded and unloaded manually.
The first floor was heavily affected by its usage. The smell made it unsuitable for human habitation. Therefore, only the barn was reassembled. The barn originally stood on the Kvåle farm in Lomen in Vestre Slidre, specifically in the Kvålsgrenna area. The timber used for the building was sourced from the eastern side of Eggeåsen, in a forested area owned by Kvåle on that side of the hill. The structure was likely built in the early 1800s.
The barn was the first building to be reassembled in Øystre Slidre and was completed on its current site as early as 1975.
Haugabui (The Storage House):
This was a storage building on the Ukshøvdhaugen (Okshovd) farm, located below the road where you turn off from National Road 51 towards Beito at Mørken. Anna Fuglesteg grew up on this farm.
In Valdres, a "bu" serves the same purpose as a “stabbur” (a storehouse) in the rest of the country. It was used for storing food, clothing, and other items that could not fit in the main house.
The southern part is the oldest, likely dating back to the late 1700s. This part of the building was constructed from mountain spruce, a material less durable than pine. As a result, some logs in the oldest section had to be replaced with new ones. The northern section was added in the latter half of the 1800s.
Haugabui was reassembled around the same time as the barn, but due to a shortage of materials, it was not completed until 1976. Originally, the building was not as tall as it is today. To make it two full stories, parts of another storage house, purchased from Kremarskogen farm (located on the upper side of the road opposite the community hall Solhaug in Rogne, Øystre Slidre), were added.
The section containing the staircase and bathroom/shower was newly built to accommodate these features. Originally, there were no windows in the storage house, only two small openings at either end. Searching for items in this storage house could be a truly eerie experience.
Kvålsbui (The Kvål Storage House):
As the name suggests, this storage house was from Kvåle, the same farm as the barn. The building is likely from the same time period as the barn, i.e., the early 1800s. The timber used here is probably pine, which makes the structure more durable compared to Haugabui. Pine trees grow right down by the river north of Heggefjorden in the Kvål area, and old Jon Kvåle, who sold these buildings, believed the timber originated from there.
Kvålsbui was the third cabin reassembled in Øystre Slidre and was ready for use in 1976. Like the other buildings, parts of the storage house from Kremarskogen were added to make it two full stories. This building also originally lacked windows.
The fireplace room was constructed in 1990 by Lars Kristian Skattebu from Rogne.
Trøsstogo (The Drying House):
Trøsstogo also comes from Kvåle. The building was used as a drying house for grain, hence the name. Inside one of the rooms, there were large slate slabs on each side of the room where the grain to be dried was placed. In one corner, a stone hearth with an oven was built. There was neither a smoke hole nor a chimney, so it must have been quite smoky inside during the drying process.
The exact age of Tresstogo is unknown, but it is believed to be very old, as it has been many hundreds of years since grain drying was carried out in such buildings. It is likely that the building was constructed before the introduction of the potato (1750), as grain was still the primary source of food in Norway at the time.
Trøsstogo was the last of the cabins to be reassembled. Construction began in 1976 and was completed in 1977. Later, two bedrooms, a hallway, and the drying room were added, and these were finished by Christmas 1990.
Laugarbui (The Bath house):
Due to persistent demand from a regular tenant from Germany, it was decided that a sauna should be added to the cabin cluster. The sauna was constructed and completed by Christmas 1990, coinciding with the German tenant’s bankruptcy.
