HAN SYLTE

Valnesfjord, Nordland

 

IN THE SEARCH FOR SOAPS MADE IN NORWAY

 

On the last stop on the Nordlandsbanen railroad, half an hour north of Bodø, beyond the arctic circle, lies Valnesfjord. A small, active village next to the Sjunkhatten national park, close to mountains loved by Randonnée skiers.

Here you find Han Sylte’s universe, with local food production, a concept store, a local brewery, and a new small hotel, where you can enjoy midnight sun in the summer and northern lights in the winter.

It all started seven years ago with carrots. Crooked and twisted carrots, those who don’t look good enough to end up in plastic bags at the supermarket. Mathilde and Håvard Johannes Winther had an idea and wanted to turn them into tasty marmalades.

 

“Here, north of the polar circle, you can’t grow everything, but what you can grow develops a unique flavor. In summer the sun never sets, it’s daylight night and day, but the temperature is low. This combination makes the carrots really tasty”.

 

So, the customers liked what they got and the production grew – fast. The couple bought an old grocery store building in Valnesfjord to get closer to the carrot farmers – but also because they needed more space for production.

But it did not stop there. Along with a microbrewery, they started developing a concept store with their own products and a carefully chosen selection of other brands. And in April 2020 they opened a small hotel, a lodge with ten rooms and one suite.

 

“For our small hotel we wanted a soap made in Norway. We didn’t just want to pick a known international brand, we wanted something unique that was made by people with a vision similar to our own, someone courageous and brave, who believed in their product.”

 

So we started searching the web for locally made, high-quality Norwegian brands. And we found Fitjar Islands. Natural soaps made in Norway.  We liked both their visual concept and the things we read. We contacted them, all our questions were answered, and they sent us product samples. Of course, we wanted to know what both the smell and the feeling were like. And yes, Fitjar Islands was what we were looking for!

We chose Fjellheim for our hotel rooms because it smells like the mountains surrounding us. Like the real thing. And because we want our customers to be able to take some of the experience they had here back home.

Want to experience our Fjellheim Soap? Check-in at Han Sylte. You know, you can travel really green if you want to. Take the night train from Trondheim and wake up next morning at nine, walk three minutes from the platform – and you are ready to eat breakfast with them.

If you go here in the winter to experience northern lights, snow and skiing, then be glad the roads in Valnesfjord will not be salted, like most roads in Norway in the winter. Here the locals prefer to use kicksleds!

 

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