2025
This is the story of the Norwegian village, a forgotten phenomenon in our history. Many believe that farmers in Norway have always lived on their own farm, but once upon a time, before replacement and dramatic modernization, many Norwegians lived together in village-like communal farms. In these farms, families lived and worked in small houses close together, wall to wall, with a patchwork of fields surrounding the cluster of houses.
Author Eva Røyrane and photographer Oddleiv Apneseth got the idea for Klyngetunet when they collected material from all over the country for the bestseller Norges låver. Several of these Cluster farms are protected, some have become museums and holiday homes, while others are inhabited by completely ordinary people who still actively practice agriculture.
There were once many thousands of such farming villages, before they were dissolved in the period 1860–1920. The book tells how the dramatic dissolution changed the Norwegian landscape and rural life, and what happened to the few farms where the farmers did not move to establish themselves separately. The book also tells how the qualities of the dense cluster farm can now have a new spring if today's architects, urban planners and house builders look to this ancient form of housing for inspiration for new living environments where the modern Norwegian can thrive and live together.
"By telling about a relatively unknown way of life that existed since the Middle Ages, the pair of horses Røyrane/Apneseth also nuances the story of the Norwegian farmer. […] The Cluster Farm can well be read as a cultural policy input to the granting authorities."
“With sober and good texts and with magnificent images and honest details, they invite us into one farmyard after another, around the coastal, fjord and mountain country of Norway. A magnificent book about cluster farmyards can inspire us to talk about how villages of the future should be managed.”
"The book is a must for those interested in Norwegian history, agriculture, rural life, architecture and building customs – and how working communities and close neighbors worked – and can work today."
"A bible about the Norwegian cluster garden."
"This is a very beautiful, fascinating and thought-provoking book, which is highly recommended."
