page_title: Nordre Ekre
section_title: The oldest buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Nordre Ekre / The oldest buildings
caption_attribution_description: English: The Nordre Ekre farm, Heidal, Norway, from SW. The photo dates from the early 1900s - as the northern house has not yet been rebuilt Norsk bokmål: Nordre Ekre gård, Heidal. Nordre stue er ennå ikke påbygd til to etasjer. Flere av bygningene som er nå er revet, står fortsatt.
context_page_description: Nordre Ekre is a farm in the lower part of the valley Heidal in Sel municipality, Norway. Some of the buildings on the farm date back from the 18th century. In 2004 the then owners were awarded the Norwegian Heritage sign of quality, Olavsrosa, for outreach activities and sustainable use of Norwegian heritage. Nordre Ekre has been an agritourism farm since 1995, in the early years based mainly on self-catering.
  Today the farmland is leased to neighbouring farmers, and the tourist offering has been expanded with a restaurant. The guest rooms have also been upgraded, but with the emphasis on retaining the original style, with exposed log walls and the original soapstone fireplaces. Nordre Ekre farm hotel and restaurant is one of five farms that form the partnership «Gardshotell i Gudbrandsdalen/Farm hotels in Gudbrandsdalen».
  Nordre Ekre has been designated as «Travellers' choice» four years in a row by the travel website TripAdvisor.
context_section_description: When the current yard was established, after the division in 1851, it was partly with buildings from the former location, partly with new buildings and partly with buildings that were moved from elsewhere. Photographs from the early 1900s show more buildings than those which currently stand on the farm. Here were stables, a piggery and several other outbuildings, but the buildings were not so clearly defined in an inner and outer yard, as they are on som of the other Heidal farms. According to Norske gardsbruk the farm is thought at one time to have comprised 17 buildings, including the mountain farm (summer pasture) and cabins.
  As farming changed over the years, more buildings were demolished and relocated. The stables were, for example, taken down and re-erected as a cottage, and the former barn was part of a larger cattle shed and barn, which has now been partly converted into guest rooms, as well as banqueting facilities and a farm museum.
  The other six buildings from before the twentieth century today, form a not completely closed «firkanttun» (=square yard). The house lived in by the last generation farmers, is from 1976, and is pulled slightly back from the yard.
  The buildings at Nordre Ekre are not listed or preserved, but the farm is part of the important cultural building environment and cultural landscape in Heidal, with and architectural finish, buildings and location in the terrain typical of the buildings in the valley from the 17th century onwards. All the buildings around the yard are log houses from before 1900, and all, except for «Aurbua», are registered by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, in SEFRAK, a national register of old buildings and other national heritage sites and objects. The buildings are dated «1700s» in SEFRAK. The dating, and the fact that no buildings remain on the former site, now Midtre Ekre, makes it likely that most of the buildings were moved to Nordre Ekre with the farm division in 1851.
  Søre stu
  Søre is dialect for søndre=southern or southernmost. Stu is dialect for stue, which in this context means farmhouse. The name, or description, of the building therefore is The southern(-most) farmhouse.
  The building is said to have been moved here from Lom, but there is no contemporary documentation for this. In the 1953 edition of Norske gardsbruk the actual move is dated to 1848, while the register in the 1998 edition cites 1860 as the year the building was moved to Nordre Ekre. The latter fits most closely with the facts, since the yard was established in 1851. The house was extended in width around 1942, and in length in 1995. The building is the residence of the current owners. Until the spring of 2013 it also housed the restaurant. 
  Nørdre stu
  Nørdre stu=Northern farmhouse. This was the original farmhouse on the farm. After the erection of Søre stu, Nødre stu was used as a house for the retired farmer, until around 1960. At the time the building was moved here from its previous location, it only had one storey. The second storey was added in 1940, and the sod roof was also replaced with flat, hewn slate tiles. The building now contains four en suite guest rooms.
  Aurbua
  Aur=gravel, bua=the store room. This was the farm's cold storage. The building originally stood where today's kitchen in Søre stu is located. It was moved to the current location when Søre stu was expanded in 1995. The building is currently used as a farm shop. Aurbua is not mentioned specifically in the SEFRAK register.
  Eldhuset
  Eld=fire, huset=the house. This building is the farm's bakehouse, and has a wood fired traditional flat top baking oven and chimney, although its location, right among the other farm buildings, makes it unlikely that it was meant to be used as a bakehouse when it was moved to this location. Today the building is used for baking traditional flatbrød and lefse for – and on – special occasions, such as during the annual event «Gardmillom».
  Stabburet
  The storehouse. As with the other buildings, the date of the storehouse is uncertain. It is dated to the 1800s in the SEFRAK registe
caption: The farm seen from the south-west, early 1900s
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