Skrudur Garden

Skrudur was laid out in 1909 by Sigtryggur Gudlaugsson, a priest and teacher at the school at Nupur, as a teaching garden: the aim was to show pupils and farmers that vegetables, herbs and trees could be grown in the Westfjords, which was not then accepted. It is among the oldest gardens of its kind in Iceland and was restored in the 1990s after decades of neglect. The entrance is an arch made from the jawbones of a whale. Inside, low stone and turf walls give shelter for beds, shrubs and a small stand of trees, in a fjord where the wind normally settles the argument.

The main sights

• A teaching garden from 1909 - built to prove crops would grow here.
• A whale jawbone arch - the entrance.
• Shelter walls of stone and turf - what makes growing possible.
• Restored in the 1990s - after long neglect.

When to go

June to September, when there is anything growing. An hour.

What to expect

It is small and modest, and its importance is historical rather than horticultural. Outside the growing season there is little to see. There are no facilities. The fjord road is long and partly gravel.

Nearby

Thingeyri is up the fjord; Dynjandi is south over the heath.