Summer vibes at Haugen
Haugen Hytteutleie & Camping offers nostalgia and magical summer experiences. People come here from far and wide, both to see Preikestolen and Kjerag – and several Asian tourists have been spotted snapping photos of Mother Anny's garden, which truly flourishes in the summer.
Siblings Åge and Anita Haugen are proud of the family business, and every now and then sell badges with the original logo.
We have been running accommodation here for somewhere between 70 and 75 years, says Åge Haugen, owner and general manager of Haugen Hytteutleie & Camping.
We are open all year round and offer cabin rentals, caravan pitches, campervan parking and tent pitches. Now in the summer we also offer canoe hire, minigolf, a playground and great swimming and walking opportunities, he explains further.
Brief history:
Åge, his former wife Solveig Therese and Anita rented the campsite from father (and father-in-law) Jørgen Haugen from 2001 to 2006. Until 2006, the campsite was part of the farm owned by Jørgen. The campsite was subdivided from the farm in 2006 and Åge became the owner of Haugen Hytteutleie & Camping.
In 1974, Jørgen took over the farm from his father Ådne. He then gradually started accepting caravans to be parked through the winter. Caravans that were placed on farms – most often on cultivated land – during the winter, which evolved into caravans staying all year round. The cultivated land where the caravans stood during the winter eventually became so difficult to restore after the winter that more and more farms chose to convert cultivated land into a camping area so that the caravans could stay all year.
The grandchildren of one of the first people to have a caravan in the yard of Jørgen and Anny Haugen (Haugen 40) in the 1970s are here in a caravan to this very day.
A large yellow chemical toilet‘
«The sanitary facilities in the 70s were a bit different to what they are today. At that time, there was a large yellow »loo bucket‘. This loo bucket stood in an old portable cabin in the yard at Jørgen and Anny's.
Water and sewerage were installed in the house at Haugen 70 in 1981.
Grandfather Ådne died in February 1981 and grandmother Jenny lived in the house until she died in October 1995. Anita moved back home at the end of 1995.
Father Jørgen died in April 2008 – then sister Anita took over the farm. Some of the caravans are on Anita's farm, but the caravans are part of the operation of Haugen Hytteutleie & Camping.
Auntie Mor
Mother Anny still lives at home at Haugen 40. In the summertime, her great hobby is gardening and flowers. Pictures of her garden are likely spread all over the world – the garden is a popular photo subject for our summer guests. More than one Asian tourist (and tourists from other continents) have snapped away in Mother Anny's garden.
We have had visitors from almost the entire world, but so far we are missing guests with an address registered in Africa and Antarctica. Guests from all the other continents we have had, Åge laughs.
We are practically perfectly positioned between Kjerag and Preikestolen.
The summer season starts gradually when the Lysevegen road opens after the winter around 17 May. The summer season gathers a bit of pace when the Brokke-Suleskard road opens on 20 May.
With few exceptions, this road has been opened later than 20 May – it depends on the amount of snow in the mountains.
In the 1950s, 60s and part of the 70s
Grandfather Ådne and grandmother Jenny Haugen rented out several rooms in the house to tourists from «the city» (Stavanger/Sandnes). Our great-grandmother Torbjørg (died in 1962), Ådne, Jenny, and the three sons – Jørgen, Agnar, and Torfinn – lived in the house at the same time as they rented out rooms to tourists. The family of 6 had the everyday living room and 3 bedrooms at their disposal, while those who rented had the «new living room», the kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and the small bedroom at their disposal.
The house could get quite busy at Easter. A family of five rented the «new room» and the kitchen. Another family – of four – had one of the bedrooms, and two other people had the other bedroom. All five bedrooms are on the first floor, and the visitors had cooking facilities in the upstairs hallway.
Even they had to wait until the tourists were finished in the kitchen before they could perhaps make themselves some quick hot food.
So the tourists could be a little to themselves, as far as that was possible with so many people in the same house.
Room rental was a good source of income for many people from Sirdal and was common. Some also rented out mountain pastures belonging to the farm – this was also common.
The house of Jørgen and Anny Haugen (Haugen 40)
Haugen got a bridge over the River Sira in 1957. Until then, they had to row across the river in a pram. A new bridge was built in 1978 – that is the one used to this day.
Fact box:
– 14 rental cabins in various sizes.
– 3 new cabins are under planning and construction.
– Pitching area for 70+ caravans
– 62 caravans are stationed with us on annual pitches
– Large barbecue for the summer season that everyone can use.
– In the summer season we also have an outdoor washing-up bench.
– Grey-water disposal (summer only) and waste disposal point.
– Open for drop-in all year round.
– The service building was completed in 1994. Here you will find sanitary facilities, a laundry room/kitchen, reception, storage room and a café.