In May of 2019 I relocated with my partner Veslemøy to Norway, for summer in the Hardangerfjord village of Herand.

The quaint village is home to around 220 locals engaged in fishing & farming and swells with many visitors during the summer months. I now live in lego land. (the guesthouse & restaurant are in the lower centre of the above image)

 

We live upstairs in this little building above the restaurant “Meieriet” that Veslemøy manages. It was built in 1830 and used as a fruit packing building and the village’s cold room before the advent of refrigeration.  I am writing to you from the upper left window.

 

 

The guest house is used to accomodate groups visiting to ski the glacier Folgefonna.  We have just had a group of adventurers from London staying in less than ideal weather, (it hasn’t been above 8º all week) but they did receive snow on the glacier.

The quality of light and the amount of it here is fantastic for landscape photography. The sun peaks over the mountains behind us about 7am but is light from 5 and sets across the fjord just after 10pm currently and is still light close to midnight.

The fjord is steep and quite deep hitting 847m between here and Norheimsund, the town visible to us from across the fjord.

We have a great little runabout to explore and dive the fjord. The water temp is currently around 6º and is by far some of the coldest waters I have swum. I’ve seen a few schools of harbour porpoise or ‘Nise’ as they are known here. Orca have also been sighted here.

My days here consist of yoga & music in the morning, repair and maintenance of the 5 circa 1800’s buildings and 30+ bicycles we have for hire & solo piano performances in the evening.

Stu Barry, Handy Piano Man.