Our group agreed that Skudeneshavn felt rather like a set for some picturesque but rather sinister film - something lurking between the Prisoner and the Wicker Man (I mean all this in a good way...).
A fishing village of a few hundred white wooden houses, it was founded in the 1800s but tantalisingly crops up on maps from the 1500s, for reasons nobody can quite explain.
It's now listed throughout, and its look is preserved by some rigid building regulations:
Still, unless you're crazy about boats, there is not a tremendous amount going on here, and that's reflected in a lack of hotel product - you'll find only a handful of B&Bs, some cabins for hire and two campsites nearby.
But it repays a casual visit, and has a nice museum featuring a series of traditionally-furnished rooms and a mock-up 'shop' stocked with vintage goods. Look out for the fish-skin shoes.
Of course, the drawback for the casual visitor is Skudeneshavn's relative remoteness from the bigger tourist draws of fjord country - you would probably want to fly to Haugesund, as we did, and stop off here on a short tour of the area before heading north.
A fishing village of a few hundred white wooden houses, it was founded in the 1800s but tantalisingly crops up on maps from the 1500s, for reasons nobody can quite explain.
It's now listed throughout, and its look is preserved by some rigid building regulations:
- The fronts of houses must be predominantly white
- Red, green or blue are allowed around windows or doors
- Modifications - even replacing the old windows - are tightly controlled
Still, unless you're crazy about boats, there is not a tremendous amount going on here, and that's reflected in a lack of hotel product - you'll find only a handful of B&Bs, some cabins for hire and two campsites nearby. But it repays a casual visit, and has a nice museum featuring a series of traditionally-furnished rooms and a mock-up 'shop' stocked with vintage goods. Look out for the fish-skin shoes.
Of course, the drawback for the casual visitor is Skudeneshavn's relative remoteness from the bigger tourist draws of fjord country - you would probably want to fly to Haugesund, as we did, and stop off here on a short tour of the area before heading north.
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