Ha Gamle Prestegard

Ha gamle prestegard is a low white cluster of buildings from the 1780s standing directly on the exposed Jaeren shoreline, once the parsonage for the district and since 1986 a regional art centre with changing exhibitions of contemporary Norwegian and international work in the converted rooms and barns. The setting is the reason many people come: the buildings sit among a field of Bronze Age burial mounds on a headland, with the North Sea in front, and the Jaeren coastal path runs past. A sculpture by the shore and the surrounding grassland give it a bleak, wide character quite unlike the fjord country further north. A cafe operates in the old buildings, and the site holds concerts and readings.

What you actually see

• The 1780s parsonage - low white buildings on an exposed shore.
• The burial mounds - a Bronze Age grave field around the site.
• The exhibitions - changing contemporary art in the converted rooms.
• The Jaeren coast - open North Sea shoreline and coastal path.

When to go

May to September for the fullest programme and the best weather; the gallery runs exhibitions year-round on reduced winter hours, and the shore is dramatic in autumn storms.

Honest expectations

Exhibitions change, so the specific content is unpredictable. The site is exposed with almost no shelter from wind. Public transport reaches Naerbo but the last stretch needs a taxi or a walk.

Nearby

The Jaeren beaches run north and south; Stavanger lies forty kilometres up the coast.