Agatunet

Agatunet is a klyngetun, a clustered farmyard of the kind that was standard in western Norway before nineteenth-century land reform broke them up: about thirty timber buildings belonging to several families packed together on a small area, with houses, storehouses on staves, barns and workshops sharing narrow lanes, and the fields spread around them. Most such settlements were dismantled, which makes this survival unusual. The oldest building, Lagmannsstova, dates from around 1250 and was the house of Sigurd Brynjulvsson, a royal lawman, making it one of the oldest secular timber buildings in Norway. It sits on the Sorfjord among fruit orchards, and is run as a museum with guided visits in season.

What you actually see

• The clustered plan - thirty buildings packed together in shared lanes.
• Lagmannsstova - a lawman's house of about 1250, still standing.
• The stave storehouses - raised timber buildings for grain and food.
• The orchard setting - fruit-growing slopes along the Sorfjord.

When to go

May to September, when the site is open and guided; the buildings are locked outside the season though the lanes can be walked. Blossom in May is the prettiest time in the surrounding orchards.

Honest expectations

The buildings are open only on guided tours in season, and hours are limited. The site is small and the visit takes about two hours. Interpretation is stronger with a guide than from signage.

Nearby

The Hardanger Folk Museum at Utne is along the fjord; Odda and the Folgefonna glacier lie south.