Haralds bolig / Haralds hytte

Have you heard the story of Harald’s hytte? (Harald’s hut)

Maybe you have been there and visited it? Or maybe, like so many in the pre GPS days, you tried to and couldn’t find it.

This morning, keen to show Hulda some great new walk locations we headed to find the mythical hut.

I have been there several times but it doesn’t always make finding it any easier.

Here is a quick summary of how the hut came into being…. Post Second World War and there was a chronic shortage of housing in Oslo.

The limited housing was prioritized for married couples and families. Single people and many who had fought during the War were left waiting.

Around Grefsenkollen many of these single people started building simple huts in which to live.

Harald Grande (Grande by name, Grande in Nature) built his hut and moved there in 1956.

By the early 1960s Oslo Council was trying to get rid of these huts and burning them down or removing them.

Harald had hidden his hut so well that the council didn’t find it and therefore it remained. Maybe it was all part of his Grande plan!

Harald lived the simple life in his cabin for nearly 30 years, only moving out in 1983. This is even more remarkable when you find the cabin and realize quite how close you are to the city.

Harald lived to the Grande old age of 90, demonstrating that his simple lifestyle had clearly kept him in good health.

I can also attest to quite how steep it is to get in or out of the hut location. Harald must have had iron calves!

Today the cabin or hut has been restored and is kept maintained as a monument to the after war era.

Out the site they have now erected a sign honoring the big man (or should that be Grande Man). Here it is:

By the way, unless you really have limited time, then I recommend not using GPS and just exploring the amazing slope…. I’ll give you a clue to get you started, it is on the Årvoll side of Grefsenkollen.

By the way take a torch as there is a super cool cave just past the hut.

https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Haralds_hytte_(Oslo)

Doggies: Jello, Zoe, Penny, Wilma and Ferd