Culinary experiences at Sygard Grytting

When you visit Sygard Grytting Farm, it is like taking a step back in time. Both the pilgrim shelter and the family farm goes back to medieval times. The current owner, Stig Grytting, is the 16th generation living on the estate and he tells us that one of the lofts on the farm is constructed using a notching technique that was only in use before the black plague of 1350.

Stig and his wife Hilde run the farm together, as an active farm with animals and land to manage, but also as a farm hotel and pilgrim shelter. They have developed it into a place where people can both stay over and get a wonderful 3-course dinner. Here, all the food is made from scratch and it is often the farm’s own produce that is on the menu. The lamb’s meat originates from livestock grazing right outside the door, at least when they are not in the mountain pasture to fatten up. The potatoes are also home-grown. Moose and reindeer comes from the nearby mountain and forest and the same goes for the freshwater fish. The jam is made from berries picked in the garden and for dessert, they often serve fruit from the same garden. All bread and cakes are home baked and sometimes they bake the bread in the old soapstone oven situated in the old kitchen.

The Sygard Grytting estate consists of approximately 25 buildings, divided into the inner yard where the owners themselves live in a stately building from the 17th century, and an outer yard where you find the farm buildings. Throughout the last 25 years, the buildings have been respectfully restored. A work for which the owners have received several awards. With a respect for tradition, several of the houses in the inner yard have been equipped with hotel standard sleeping quarters. Sygard Grytting can in addition to this, present a special wine cellar that runs over two floors in the old food cellar under one of the main buildings. Here, the hosts offer both wine tastings and events with historical gourmet food.

Amongst the lovely historical surroundings that represents more than 700 years of history, a place that stands out on the estate is the pilgrim shelter. With its age, size and history, it is one of a kind. Here, in the listed long loft from the 13th century, you can sleep in the same room where other pilgrims have stayed since medieval times. This is the largest medieval loft in the country and the only remaining shelter from catholic times.

"Svevnstova", the name used in a paper from 1343, is supposed to have been three stories high and it could accommodate at least 20 people and hosted many pilgrims on their way to Nidaros.

Still today, there is a feeling of going back to the medieval times when you step over the old threshold of the ancient loft. Here, you can sleep under sheepskins in old beds and eat your food at the long table. If there are several people staying at the same time, the hosts like to serve medieval food in the feast hall or the wine cellar. In the summer season (1st of July to 15th of August), pilgrims may choose to buy a three-course dinner and a nice homemade breakfast in the main building on the farm, they can also choose to have the traditional pilgrim soup instead.

Some guests make their own food in the kitchen in "Fantstugu" cottage, where it is also possible to stay. Sygard Grytting have, in addition to this, 12 hotel standard rooms in the historic hotel. As a pilgrim, it is possible to have the unique experience of staying in the medieval loft, sleeping under sheepskin, with lights shimmering on ancient timber logs. You can be carried back to another time and feel the kinship with the pilgrims that have slept here as far back as the 13th century. An experience you won’t forget.