From treasure troves to the world's most romantic suites

The farmyard art Nermo is home to two storehouses that are at least 300 years old. For generations, they stored flour and grain, cured hams, and flatbread. Today, they house romantic couples in four beautiful suites, which have been named among of the world's 25 most romantic hotels by Historic Hotels Worldwide. Two years in a row.

The storehouses – the farm's sanctuary

The storehouse has been the treasure trove for Norwegian farms for over a thousand years. As early as in the Gulating Act from the 900s, the storehouse was listed as one of three buildings that was required to be left standing when a tenant left a farm. The other two were the farmhouse and the smokehouse. The food and supplies were so important that the law entitled owners right to kill any thief caught in the act.

The key to the storehouse was the housewife's status symbol. She was the one who kept track of the supplies, and one of only three people who had access: the farmer himself, his wife and the cook.

Built to last

The storehouse stood on pillars of wood or stone, raised above the ground to keep mice and rats away. A cantilever on top of the pillars made it extra difficult for rodents to climb up. The distance between the stairs and the building itself was also deliberate. Even if a mouse managed to get up, it had to jump over to the wall. Most gave up on the way.

On the ground floor, cured hams hung from hooks from the ceiling. The salt barrel stood ready for the next slaughter. And the air circulated freely through openings in the walls. The storehouse was the farm's refrigerator, long before anyone had invented such things.

On the second floor, the grain lay safely. Flour and grains of various kinds, each in its own bins. Up here it was dry and cool, just the way the grain needs it to be in order to last through the winter.

Numedal: The storehouse treasury

The storehouses at Nermo Hotel originally come from Numedal in Buskerud. This area is known for having some of Norway's oldest and best-preserved timber buildings, with lofts and storehouses from the Middle Ages that still stand where they were erected 700 years ago.

The Vengestad Farm in Flesberg was the home of the two storehouses that have now been given a new lease of life at Nermo. The timber used in the structure was felled sometime before 1730. This means that the wood you see and touch today was shaped by hands that lived 300 years ago.

In 2018, the two storehouses were carefully dismantled. Each log was marked, documented and transported from Numedal to Øyer. At Nermo, Johannes was waiting, ready to give the old buildings a new lease on life, this time as hotel suites.

The painstaking restoration combined traditional craftsmanship with modern hotel comfort. The old logs and wood were preserved and treated with respect. But behind the ancient walls, there is now underfloor heating, a gas fireplace and handmade bathtubs with four suites divided between two storehouses.

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Full circle

There is something fitting about a storehouse, which was once the farm's treasury, now receiving guests. Because the storehouse's close relative, the loft, was used for exactly this in the Middle Ages. On the large farms, the most distinguished guests slept in the loft, while the food was stored on the floor below.

In the old peasant society, the storehouse was also the arena of romanticism. In the summer, girls who were ready to marry moved out into the loft above the storehouse. There they lay and waited for suitors who came sneaking in on Saturday evenings. The tradition was so widespread in Oppland that Eilert Sundt wrote an entire book about it in 1857.

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So, when couples today book one of the storehouse suites at Nermo for a romantic weekend, they are following a tradition that is far older than they realize. It's no wonder then that Historic Hotels Worldwide has named the suites one of the world's most romantic hotels.

The timber has been standing for over 300 years. It has seen generations come and go. Today, it is welcoming guests once again, just it perhaps has done in the part. Just with slightly better mattresses this time!