From one horse and six sheep to the farm you see today.
The name comes from the Old Norse man's name Baardr. For generations, Bårdseng was a holding under the larger estate of Skikstad. In his account of Skikstad, local historian Aksel Hattestad mentions Syver Skikstad's ownership of a share in Bårdseng in 1624 and describes Bårdseng under the estate in 1665, when Gudbrand Bårdseng also appears among its workers.
By 1723, Bårdseng was listed as an independent farm, owned and worked by Lars Ellingsen with one horse, five cattle and six sheep. These glimpses of everyday life connect today's farm with the people who worked the land centuries ago.
Explore the local history in Aksel Hattestad's accounts of Skikstad–Skjeggestad and Bårdseng, published online by Fåberg og Lillehammer historielag (in Norwegian).
The newspapers have noticed twice. In 1965 Olaf Baardseng received Gudbrandsdalens Husflidsforenings prize for wood carving, after thirty-five years with the axe: birch and alder, animal figures and ale bowls, sold through the husflid shops of Oslo, Hamar and the district. When Anette and Dag bought the farm in 1990, the barn was near collapse; they took it down and rebuilt it with carpenter Nils Haugen and much dugnad, choosing the old tie-stall on purpose, so the barn stayed the way it had always been.
