Help our family at our mountain lodge and farm in the beautiful mountains of Hemsedal, Norway

Details

• 

  Description

  Update:
  Thank you for interest!
  
  At this time we are looking to connect with individuals who are interested in joining us as:
  
  - servers (waiter/waitress) / laundry attendants for our lodge and cottages for May 5-June 9 (paid, full-time work),
  - babysitters for our family between May and October (non-paid, but classic workaway arrangement where we cover food and accommodation in exchange for up to 20 hours a week of childcare)
  
  Also, due to an influx in inquiries since changing our profile to "wage-based work", we are a bit slow to respond. We apologize for this. But if you are interested in joining us, please include detail and/or evidence of your experience.
  
  Also, to clarify, since we are offering wage-based work, we can only work with individuals who have experience in housekeeping *and* are from the EU (unless you already have a work visa for Norway).
  
  We have had incredible and positive experiences with workaway guests in the past who have helped us with setting up our farm; and we are excited to extend the opportunity to folks interested in housekeeping and serving, as well as childcare.
  
  Thank you for reading!
  
  ------------------
  
  We are a family of 5 - Norwegian Dad, American Mom and 3 energetic boys (ages 9, 7 and 4). We run a historic lodge in the mountains of Hemsedal, Norway - known as the “Scandinavian Alps” for its skiing, snowboarding, dog sledding and other snow activities in the winter, and for its hiking and biking in the summer.
  
  We have also recently established a small organic farm to feed our family, team, local community, and now guests, and we are committed to building a more sustainable and active life -- an ideal that we believe is only possible through good old fashioned hard work, genuine curiosity, and willingness to go outside one's comfort zone every day.
  
  At this time we are looking to work with folks who are passionate and have experience in hospitality and housekeeping.
  In the past (and perhaps again in the future), folks have helped us with starting and growing our organic, regenerative farm.
  
  Please note, we are paying wages, so we require experience in the work areas we list below. Unfortunately, we don't have the capacity to train folks with little or no experience at this time.
  
  We are excited to host a Workaway guests who are:
  
  - genuinely interested in hospitality
  - proactively engaging in everyday tasks
  - having a positive and happy attitude
  - humble and appreciative
  - self motivated to take action and effectively complete the tasks
  - flexible in one's ability to dial up for busy weeks or dial down for slower weeks
  
  Specifically, we currently need help with:
  
  Mid-May to mid-October:
  Serving
  
  
  
  If you love nature, healthy eating, skiing/snowboarding, hiking, farming, rustic living and friendly company, this is the perfect work-travel opportunity for you. We look forward to sharing this beautiful place and experience with you!

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You will gain exposure to people from all over the world during your interaction with guests of the mountain lodge and our family as well.
  
  ABOUT US:
  
  BJØRN and DANAE are both tech entrepreneurs, who have grown to appreciate the mental, physical and spiritual importance of returning to nature amidst this increasingly "always-on" tech-enabled world. Passionate about healthy food, simple, toxin-free living and restoring nature to its original form (we just planted 10,000 new trees on the land!), we are dedicated to growing the farm and building the lodge into a wellness destination here in Norway. We both are active in sales and operations, but when not on our computers, you'll find Bjorn hands-on in the field building new vegetable beds, and you'll find Danae relentlessly practicing her sourdough baking skills and studying Market Garden Best Practices. They have three boys, Tor, Teo & Tommen, aged 8, 6 and 3. All three have a lot of energy. They love jumping on the trampoline, biking, helping on the farm, and escaping into a good book (with pictures:) to relax after a long day outside.
  
  
  ALEX works with Danae and Bjorn as an operations specialist overseeing sales, customer communications, event management for the Lodge. She also helps Danae meet and connect with workaways who want to help on the farm or in the house . After many hectic years climbing the corporate ladder at a leading European online retail platform; Alex made the conscious decision to return to nature and focus her energy on creating experiences for guests who need to slow down too!
  
  
  We all love sharing our stories and experience from life and look forward to learning alongside others to love nature and the outdoors. The mountain lodge itself is under new management so you would get to see the new business reimagined and be a support to those on the property creating the vision for this unique, wellness focused, food and travel destination in Norway.

• 

  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

• 

  Host offers payment in line with the minimum wage

  This host offers accommodation and payment.

• 

  Help

  Historically, we have only hired local residents to assist us with housekeeping and serving, but recently more and more workaways have expressed interest in contributing their experience in this way. So we are now formally offering paid event service and housekeeping opportunities through workaway.
  
  We are looking for help doing the following:
  
  1. Laundry Management (needed for May-October 2025)
  In 2025, we will host 24 weddings in 25 weeks between May and October. Each week, between 80 and 120 guests will come for a 3-day destination wedding. They will stay in our 5 large cottages (which sleep between 15 and 30) and 5 lodge apartments (which sleep 4-6). We would like help from a couple interested in managing the washing, drying and steam pressing, and folding of all our bed linens and towels (on average 90 sets per week). We have 2 commercial washers and and industrial dryer, as well as a miele roller iron in our main laundry room. We estimate the work would be about 20 hours / week for 2 people. If you have housekeeping experience and an eye for detail, this could be a good fit for you.
  
  2. Event service (needed for May - October 2025)
  During the wedding weekend, we typically host three events: Friday Viking Feast (buffet) in our Chieftains Hall, Saturday Champagne reception on our lodge grounds and a 3-course formal Saturday Wedding dinner in our historic barn. We are looking for individuals who would like to join our serving team for both Friday and Saturday events. You would typically work 2 8-9 hour shifts. If you have serving experience, are comfortable carrying exquisite dishes prepared in detail by our chefs and pouring wine, and genually enjoy customer interaction, this would be a great fit.
  
  ALTERNATIVE OPTION: If you are looking for closer to full-time work, you could combine working as a server and laundry attendant.
  
  3. Farming: (post-poned until 2026)
  We have initiated a small organic farm here on the property. Each spring, summer and fall we need help with planting, nurturing and harvesting our vegetables, tending to our small flock of chickens and pigs whom we are pasture-raising, and executing a variety of physical farm infrastructure projects (like maintaining hoops and watering systems, building "hegekultur" beds, and more!) While this land has been used for farming for hundreds of years (most recently during WW2 when the Nazis occupied Norway and the three families living here were forced to live off their land), it's been untouched for the last few decades; so we are bringing it back to life! If you have farming experience and an interest in organic farming and clean food, and in particular what it takes to build a farm from scratch, our farm could be an incredible project for you. In addition to working on the land, the opportunity to harvest and cook/prepare food sourced from the land is also available. This includes pickling, preserving, fermenting, etc. We do not have any paid opportunities in 2025, but if you are interested in volunteering in August and September for a couple weeks, let us know.
  
  If you're also interested in joining us, please reach out.

• 

  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Norwegian: Beginner

• 

  Accommodation

  ACCOMODATION:
  Our Workaway guests stay in one of our two apartment suites at the lodge. The apartment comes equipped with a shared kitchen, bathroom, shared living space, dining area, and 1 private bedroom (each with two single beds or double). Connected to the apartment are two additional rooms, each equipped with two beds and a bathroom. Those staying in the additional rooms have access to the common kitchen and shared spaces of the apartment.
  
  In the summer, we expect to host between 2-4 workaway guests at a time, such that everyone would get their own bedroom. Any couples we host could comfortably share a room as well.
  
  All Workaway guests will be provided with bed linens and a towel. Prior workaway guests have commented how lovely our accommodations are:)
  
  ACTIVITIES:
  All Workaway guests will have unlimited access to our expansive land, nature and the picturesque mountain views of Norway, as well the ability to ski/snowboard at one of Norway's premier ski resorts (Hemsedal Skisenter) during the winter. Hiking, biking and cross country skiing is also available with amazing trails that run on our property and head off for miles into the wilderness. Between guest stays, our workaway guests can also test out our newly installed wood-fired hot tubs and fish-eye lens saunas, which are conveniently located next to our lakes.
  
  Come join us!

• 

  What else ...

  We are located a 15 minute drive away from the closest town, Hemsedal, and our workaway guests would be offered a ride from the host during each trip into town. In town there are various shops, outdoor / ski supply stores, restaurants, a cafe and a grocery store. Steps from the lodge are several mountain trails for biking, hiking, cross country skiing and lake swimming. We are also a 20-minute drive from Hemsedal Skisenter, a destination for skiiers and snowboarders in the 'Scandinavian Alps.'

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

Website Safety

Feedback (6)