Nutheim Guesthouse: local food, art and quality at every level

Solveig Barstad runs what is probably Telemark's most pleasant accommodation. The historic buildings at Nutheim Gjestgiveri are full of art, and the view of the beautiful Flatdal is unbeatable. In these surroundings, she serves the best local food you can find.

It is not without reason that Nutheim Gjestgiveri profiles itself as "The Artist Hotel in Telemark". Here you will find a gallery, you can take art courses, or just come here to be inspired by the landscape, as famous artists such as Henrik Sørensen, Kai Fjell and Thorvald Eriksen have done over the years.

But, and this is important, you can also go to Nutheim to eat well. Very well.

Solveig Barstad is currently the driving force behind Nutheim Gjestgiveri, along with her mother, sculptor Ellen Grøstad Barstad. The two are the smiling faces of the place, and with only a few employees, they also fulfill most of the other functions at the small artist hotel.

Not least, Solveig is the head chef, responsible for ensuring that guests eat well, and they do. She has no formal training as a chef, but has worked with her grandmother in the kitchen at Nutheim since she was 14 and has since worked at several well-known restaurants in Oslo. At least as important is that she is extremely careful with the ingredients she uses.

Local ingredients from Rørtveit Gard

A collaboration with farmer Gunleik Mæland at Rørtveit Gard a couple of kilometers further up the valley means that she is well-stocked with top-quality meat. Mæland also has a farm where his cows, sheep and pigs go to summer pasture, and here he also has a small dairy that produces milk, butter and some other products. When he slaughters in the fall, the animals have been eating fresh mountain grass for a couple of months – and taste it accordingly.

– We have always been interested in good ingredients here at Nutheim and have chosen not to go by price, says Solveig Barstad in a more or less self-imposed break in the middle of serving lunch. It is a rather quiet Wednesday before the season gets into full swing, and then she can afford it. Even though she has left responsibility for the guest phone to her mother and the kitchen should theoretically take care of itself, heads keep popping into the room where we are sitting, asking her to make a decision on one thing or another.

Barstad says that the mindset at the guesthouse has always been that it is easier to process good raw materials than bad ones, and thus be able to serve guests good meals.

– We have always been concerned that the food should be proper and of course homemade. But this also comes a bit with the development of time, I think, that you become more aware of such things. It is the case that producers like Gunleik are good at telling you what they offer you, that they appear to be good at what they do. I had a chef from Slovakia here for a while, and he was very interested in Gunleik and what he was doing. He was younger than me and a little more up to date, so he became in a way a driving force for bringing in local meat where the conditions were known.

Solveig Barstad is clear about one thing: that at Nutheim they are idealists.

– We are idealists in all fields, in relation to the village and to the entire ecosystem here. You should have a good conscience for what you serve, and the nature around us must look nice. We would like to see more things grown down here on the flat land and are not so happy about all the round bales. When I was younger there were a lot of potatoes and leeks, I remember, and there was grain, but now it is almost only grass production that goes to a huge barn over there. It is a bit sad, also that the slopes here are becoming completely overgrown, says Solveig.

Fortunately, there is someone who is going against the grain down in Flatdal, Eldbjørg Lognvik. She is a speech therapist and idealist, and grows what vegetables she can, which she delivers to both Nutheim Gjestgiveri and Tuddal Høyfjellshotell, an hour's drive away. The two hotels also have Gunleik Mæland's deliveries in common. Together, these four businesses form a perfect synergy between the farmer and the chef.

Like Eldbjørg, you can safely say that Gunleik is also going against the grain. He could make far more money than he does, but chooses to focus on animal welfare, ecology where possible, and the preservation of ancient animal species, such as the rare Telemark cow. Only 100 such cows are milked in Norway today, and there are 14 of them at Rørtveit.

– They are so good at Rørtveit, in every way. They have cleaned the entire old farm and restored it, they are good storytellers, they are knowledgeable, treat their animals well and do good for them. It feels very right to work with Gunleik.

The collaboration between Rørtveit and Nutheim started ten years ago or so, and as Solveig Barstad points out, you stick with good suppliers once you've found them.

– Then the price is not the most important thing either, but if you have good products and it is easy to order and have it delivered, that certainly helps.

– Is it the case that you don't consider price in everything, because it would come at the expense of the good values? Something costs more, but if it's good, do you also have the certainty that it's worth it?

– Absolutely, absolutely. The ingredients are good, but it's also fantastic in itself that someone can make a living from being a farmer in that way, on such a small farm. It's nice, and we really want more of that. All of Norway wants more of that.

– Probably, but all of Norway is not willing to pay for it, and that is the paradox.

– Yes, it is also a social problem, or a structural problem. People work a lot, and then it is much easier to buy a chicken fillet, swiss, swiss, than it is to cook a hen, says Solveig and laughs dejectedly. – People may have a good income, but far too little time.

A historic guesthouse in Flatdal

Being a guest at Nutheim is not for the stressed, or perhaps that's exactly what it is. A stay here invites peace and tolerance, a break from what for many of us is an overly hectic life.

Nutheim has a long history as a place to stay. As early as 1862, a new road was built through Flatdal, replacing old bridle paths. Now you could travel by horse and carriage to both Notodden and Kongsberg. It was progress that came to visit. In the middle of the hills on the way up to Aase, a side road was built to Åmotsdal and on to Rauland, and at the crossroads a small trading post grew up. Here there would be farming, a general store, a bakery, a slaughterhouse, a coach station – and a hotel. Nutheim was ready to welcome its first guests in 1877, that is, 149 years ago.

Since the brothers Olav and Halvor Svartdal bought Nutheim in 1917, the place has belonged to the same family. They married two sisters from the neighboring village of Seljord. When the artist brothers Erlend and Terje Grøstad came to Nutheim in 1946, they fell in love not only with the landscape, but also with two of the sisters there, whom they later married.

Terje Grøstad built a studio down the road, and established himself as a graphic artist and church artist, while Erlend Grøstad and his wife Anne took over the running of the hotel in 1957. Much of the art the two brothers created can be seen at Nutheim, and the entire hotel – spread over two yards and many buildings – is like a museum with art from countless artists who have been connected to the place in various ways.

In 1962, Erlend started the painting school and moved the old rectory Hjartdal to Nutheim. Erlend and Anne have been duly honored for their commitment to maintenance, art and cultural dissemination. Their daughter Ellen Grøstad Barstad took over the operation in 2006, and together with her daughter Solveig she continues the family legacy.

Food made with calm and experience

We have made it clear that Nutheim has always served good, homemade food, but what inspires today's chef, the ubiquitous Solveig Barstad, to constantly come up with new dishes?

– I get really inspired when I'm at a restaurant, but that doesn't happen often. As you can see, I'm busy with a thousand things, and sometimes I wish we had a chef here who was a little more accomplished than me, so to speak. I can't deny that I don't feel like a chef. I'm the director, so I just have to do a lot of things.

– But you cook good food?

– Yes, thank you, but it's hard to find inspiration with so many irons in the fire. You can't be a nerd about it. That's the way it is with all things. Mom can't be an artist either, because there's too much here. You can't just sit down and do it. Processes have to take some time. I think that sometimes we could make it easier, that it's important not to be pretentious. Our advantage is that we can cook all the food ourselves, we don't need a super chef. We serve food that an ordinary housewife can make, just with a little guidance at the beginning. There are many people here who can make that food.

Nutheim is open seasonally, from May 1st to October 1st, with selected days the rest of the year. But in addition to the regular operations, there are weddings, funerals, confirmations, birthdays and so on. And while Hanen is visiting, has a company seminar. We think it's easy to say that anyone can cook, but there is a lot of food that actually has to be prepared and served. What kind of help does Solveig have in the small kitchen?

– I have some people working here, Teresa from Peru and Ursula from Poland, but sometimes it's just me who cooks. If you're the boss, it's an advantage to be good at delegating, so that I can get one person to step in and peel potatoes and another to make the soup, she says, laughing.

It is also often the case in a family business that the children are involved, and the youngest daughter Mari shows great interest in both cooking and running the business, even though she is still in elementary school.

– I have two daughters who are good, and they can do everything. I've never really thought about there being any kind of hierarchy in the kitchen, but it's the tasting and the timing and things like that that I'm perhaps best at. In a dream scenario, it would be like other chefs came up with the ideas and made the dishes, and I could just adjust the flavors. A little more salt, a little stronger, maybe more acid, which gives it a crunch.

Nutheim is a small business in a small village, and with this in mind, the supply of good raw materials is surprisingly high. However, there are certain limits to what can be obtained locally. For example, seafood is scarce far inland in West Telemark, almost at the Hardangervidda plateau. Is there anything Solveig misses that is not produced nearby?

– Sometimes we are a bit bad at looking, but yes. We used to get a lot of smoked fish from Rauland, but unfortunately he has stopped. Now I luckily get smoked trout from Stamnes that comes with the Haukeliekspressen. It is not local, but it is very good and has won many awards, she says and tells about an old man who smokes the trout on the other side of the mountain. Otherwise she gets fish from Fyresdal.

– I think that here in the village we have great potential for access to much more local potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, different types of cabbage and so on. I buy almost only Norwegian, but the potatoes are often from the hinterland, and a little from Vestfold too. It could have been grown more here. It also depends a bit on the producers who could have been better at pushing their products. The romantic notion of going around markets with a basket and such and talking to farmers, we don't have time for that, at least not me, ha-ha.

– What about the little you grow here on site?

– Dad grows strawberries, so we have some of that. We used to have an herb garden that was smoking when we built out the kitchen, but I hope we can get it back up. We pick mushrooms ourselves, and I have them almost all year round. We pick nettles and wild garlic, and then we get a little here and there from people who pick them if I don't have time. But things go quickly too. We don't have endless blueberry jam, for example. When we constantly serve it for breakfast and stuff, then whoosh, it's gone.

The menu is shaped by the season

Breakfast and dinner follow a fixed pattern at Nutheim, with a breakfast buffet and a four- or sometimes five-course dinner, respectively. Lunch, on the other hand, is à la carte, and the big winner is the hamburger. It is, of course, made with meat from Gunleik's animals at Rørtveit. Solveig also serves a cheese pie with cheese from Haukeli, and now that we are visiting, it is ramson time that she uses to make pesto.

– It will eventually run out, but I'm using it now that it's up and running. I actually make some pesto from arugula too, and I grow it myself.

Solveig Barstad also takes into account that there are many travelers in the village.

– I have to have a little something for everyone. You can be specific, but you can't be too specific either. There are so many different people to deal with, with different desires.

– And there are probably some difficult guests too?

– Well. There are some who want the food to be even more spicy, and there are some who want a pork chop sandwich with fried onions.

– The burger is close.

– Yes, but it's an expensive pork chop sandwich.

This brings us back to Gunleik Mæland's business at Rørtveit further up the hill. Does he also deliver apples and berries?

– No, he delivers apple juice, but I have a lot of apples myself and use up my own first, then I buy from him. We get sour cream and butter all summer when he has his animals in the mountains. It's fantastic, and we also get ystil, which is a kind of salad cheese or cottage cheese. I hope he gets proper cheese production started, that would be a lot of fun. We also get milk and yogurt, but it's only for a month or two. A short period there.

Solveig Barstad is nonetheless very grateful for the collaboration and full of praise.

– You can see that the cows have eaten green grass. The cream turns yellowish, and no coloring has been added.

A collaboration built on trust

She describes her collaboration with Gunleik as much as a friendship.

– There is a lot of common ground in being so independent, and both work a lot. There are so many things we meet on. We have kids the same age, and if one can't pick up from school, the other can. There are many things like that.

– You are pulling in the same direction, trying to do the same things from two different perspectives, taking care of the culture here, the landscape and the animals, and promoting these values.

– Yes, and Gunleik is very idealistic.

They help each other as best they can, and Solveig is super grateful to have such close contact. She also learns a lot about his animals, and can use all this in her own marketing. There is something special about being able to tell guests that the milk they drink for breakfast comes from a Telemark cow right on the hill – and also tell them what it is called.

– He is also very prompt. He calls and tells me that he has slaughtered, and do I need anything now? The animals are large, and I don't have much storage space, so I can't take everything in at once. Then he comes driving with what I can take and stores the rest for me.

It's much the same with the vegetable grower Eldbjørg down in the valley.

– “What do you need, what do you want?” She often asks in the spring, or in late autumn. “What is easiest for you to use?” Right? So then I can enter my wishes there. And we try to accept everything they have. We make dishes here in the kitchen according to what she delivers. If she has sauerkraut, we buy it, and then it ends up on the plates here. It works out, it works very well, says Solveig.

She also finds it a privilege not to have to lock herself into one menu, but to really be able to vary it, day by day.

– I think that in many places, even nicer places, it will be the case that in May we will run THAT menu. There are of course many advantages to that, such as that you can cook one thing very well and spice it up, while we have a new menu almost every night. A lot of things remain the same, of course, but for various reasons we are constantly forced to vary the menu.

That's not what it's like to be a catering company, but to operate small and modestly, and to constantly keep an eye on quality at all levels – and of course on the well-being of the guests. That is simply the recipe for success for Nutheim Gjestgiveri.