Norwegian wood

We had an amazing weekend in Hobol last week, near Oslo. We were staying with the Tingulstads, old family friends. My parents were meant to join us too (Arvind, Sheila and Dave came), but were unable to for various reasons. If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you may remember this adventure that my siblings had with Trond and Iren…

Seven generations of Tingulstad have lived on Tingulstad Gard, their farm. Four generations of them were around the table for dinner at one point, which was pretty awesome. They are a wonderful family; fully embracing us into their world and providing some fantastic opportunities for fun:

    we dirtbiked around the farm (wow! terrifying with Johan driving)
    feasted like Vikings of old (in all seriousness, Kirsti has represented Norway with her cooking and is an amazing chef… and I love Norwegian goat cheese)
    ate elk steak and Norwegian salmon and had a massive fondue
    had snowball fights and built snowmen
    followed the tracks of beaver and elk around the farm
    did some logging (trimming down the trees at the edge of the fields where they’d interfere with the farm equipment)
    tasted Grandpa Tingulstad’s home made wine (Rosehip and Cherry used to make wine – very tasty!)
    visited the summer cabin and waved at Denmark and the UK from the edge of ‘America’
    chased after Homer and Katya (their lovable dogs)
    sang on stage at the community centre, recently reacquired into the family
    and played with Tinius Hagbart Tingulstad, the 16 month old 7th generation model, who loves tractors. A lot.

It was amazing. Photos of the whole lot available, as ever, on Flickr. I recommend Norway hugely: delicious food, amazingly varied landscape, wonderfully fresh air.