AFTER A DECADE LIVING in the hippie and dotcom capital of San Francisco, acupuncturist Ingvild Flesland and psychologist Olaf Rademacher felt they’d had enough of city life. They were longing to return to the natural wonders of their native Norway – a longing that will be all too familiar for many Norwegians. The couple had also had two daughters during their time in California and wanted them to grow up in green surroundings.
“We found a four-hectare forest plot six and a half kilometres west of Oslo, and then all that remained was to find a suitable house,” says Ingvild of their move back in 1998 to this isolated spot, which is deep inthat promised just that. Another couple had already bought the house and transported it to the mountains, but regretted it and wanted to sell it, so we had it shipped here. There was a lot of timber, as the house was originally three storeys. The timbers weren’t particularly well marked either, which we discovered when we were trying to reconstruct it. Fortunately, there were old photos from the farm that we could use as a guide.”
