← All experiences Traditional Wood Carving

Traditional Wood Carving.

Step inside our historic timber workshop, fragrant with fresh shavings of birch and pine. Under the personal guidance of recognized master carvers, learn traditional Scandinavian green wood carving techniques using axes, drawknives, and carving chisels.

SpringSummerAutumnWinter

The day

The Gudbrandsdal Valley holds Norway's richest woodcarving heritage, celebrated for centuries of master craftsmanship that adorned regional stave churches, storehouses, and ancestral farmsteads. At Baardseng Gård, this lineage is not a distant memory; it is woven into the very fabric of our farm's daily life and working spaces.

Keeping groups intimate with a maximum of six guests ensures close, personal mentorship from veteran craftspeople in our local husflid guild network. Working with hand axes, gouges, and specialized knives on fresh timber harvested from the farm, you will learn to read the wood grain, shape raw wood with confidence, and carve your own unique project. It is an unhurried, deeply satisfying immersion where ancestral woodworking craft is passed from hand to hand.

Season

Year-round

Duration

3 hrs

Group

2–6 guests

Hand tools and chisels lined up at the historic workbench

Shaping green birch with traditional carving hand tools

Centuries-old timber joinery on the farm storehouse

Heritage & Lineage

Olaf Baardseng carving wood at his workbench at Baardseng Gård — Olaf Baardseng in his workshop

The Story of Olaf Baardseng

In the 1930s, inspired by a local handicraft course, Olaf Baardseng picked up a woodcarver’s chisel at Baardseng Gård and never put it down. While many practiced woodcarving as a pastime, Olaf made it his life’s work, turning blocks of native birch and alder into beautifully sculpted pieces using solely traditional 19th-century hand tools.

Over more than 35 years, his workshop produced everything from charming woodland figures (his signature bears and cute reindeer) to traditional Norwegian beer tankards, furniture, and artistic studies. His dedication to authentic, unhurried handwork earned him the prestigious Gudbrandsdalen Handicraft Association Prize in 1965 and brought his pieces into homes and craft shops across Eastern Norway, from Oslo to Hamar.

Today, that same spirit of quiet mastery, patience, and deep respect for natural materials remains at the heart of our story.

When it runs

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Available Closed

Our workshop operates year-round with its cozy cast-iron wood stove radiating warmth. Winter afternoons by candlelight provide the most magical creative focus.

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