At Johnsgård Tourist Centre,
you will find yourself in the
middle of nowhere. Yet at the
same time the mountains are
more accessible here than in
many other places.
– Our ambition is to provide facilities to
ensure that guests with disabilities and
other special needs are able to enjoy the
surroundings in many different ways, says
Grete A. Steigen. We want everyone to feel
safe in the outdoors.
The first tourists
started to arrive at
Johnsgård in the mid-1940s. Only a few
years earlier, in the midst of World War Two,
the settlers Johan Johns and his wife Anna
had set up their little farm on the west side
of Lake Langsjøen in Femund Engerdal. In
the summers they would move into a room in
the cowshed in order to let mountain tourists
from Oslo stay in their house. It provided an
extra and well-needed income.
Since 1999 both the farm with dairy
cows and goats, and the tourist business,
have been run by the couple’s grandchild Jan
Ole Johnsgård, his partner Grete A. Steigen
and one of their sons, Jonas Johnsgård. The
third and fourth generations have continued
to develop and put their own stamp on
everything that goes on at the farm.
– It was the great fishing grounds that
brought tourists here in the first place, says
Jan Ole. The area is also rich in cloudberries.
Safe
in the
outdoors
Many of our European guests are not used to
the outdoors from a young age the way we are.
They want to feel safe.
JOHNSGÅRD TOURIST CENTRE
10 | NATURALLY
