Kiter utenfor Hove
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Kiter utenfor Hove
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Julie Davis på TrollPark Hove
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Julie Davis på TrollPark Hove
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Hove - an eldorado in the sea gap
By Gjermund Glesnes
- I'm going to walk it without hands, shouts Julie Davis. Then she starts walking across the boardwalk, much closer to the treetops than the grass and bushes down there.
- Whoooah!
The surface sways as if possessed. It rocks and bobs, like a wild horse at a rodeo doing its best to throw her off. But Julie works against it. She twists and stretches her arms, barely managing to stay upright.
Step by step, she balances herself up to the planking in the pine on the opposite side - without ever having to test the climbing harness and safety line, which would have kept her safely up here anyway.
And yet she and her friends Charlotte, Amalie and Tor have only just begun the fun in the climbing park at TrollAktiv Hove.
It offers six different routes at varying heights and levels of difficulty, with ziplines and tarzan jumps - and "high five" when you finally stand with your feet planted on solid ground again.
Fun for everyone
The climbing park is for anyone who stands at least 110 centimeters above the ground. And it is just one of several opportunities for fun challenges in the troll park.
Here you can jump and wreak havoc from rocky cliffs on coasteering, shoot with laser tag and find your way out of an escape room in one piece. Or you can choose quieter and more relaxing activities such as SUP boards. Or how about a guided kayak trip in the archipelago, past Gjessøya, St. Helena and Badeholmen?
Close by is Hove Leirsenter with a playground, exercise equipment and a number of ball courts.
Sea kayaking is a fantastic way to experience the archipelago
Havkajakk hos Troll Park Hove
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Havkajakk hos Troll Park Hove
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
The idyll Hove
However, Hove can also be enjoyed in complete peace and quiet. The whole area - a headland at the very end of Tromøy - is a rare experience landscape.
In the north, soft sandy beaches await between the rock formations. In the middle of the headland, the pine tops rustle, and deer graze in the cover of the deciduous trees below. And on the south side, the pebble beach stretches a gray band between the green forest and the shimmering sea.
Out here, Hove shows its true origins. The countless pebbles are a 10,000-year-old legacy from the last ice age. Here the Ra moraine, the end of the land ice during the last ice age, plunges into the sea.
It is not only today's people who find the landscape special. The legend says that Hove farm was the scene of a meeting of the gods where both Thor and Odin were present. It is more certain that the fertile soil of the farm was one of the first places where potatoes were grown in Norway.
Potato harvest is far from your mind when you stroll in the sun along the Skagerrak to the soundtrack of birdsong and long, lazy waves, and watch the sheep enjoy fresh grass between the rocky cliffs.
From here, the Folkestien hiking trail goes around the entire headland, with more birdsong and nature idyll - until a red-painted house peeks out just inside the outermost pines.
The taste of Hove
It looks mostly like a cabin – in reality the building housed a doctor's office in the 80s – but a spacious outdoor terrace reveals it:
Here is Raet Mat, a restaurant that has far greater ambitions than "just" being the restaurant for the glamping site Raet Camping.
- We worked for six weeks this winter to create the menu, with trial tasting after trial tasting before all the dishes were set properly. And it worked. We have never received as much praise for the food as this year, says camping manager Kathinka Stubergh.
In the open kitchen, head chef Nadja Muratbegovic is busy searing courgette salad for one of the house's specialities: the chicken salad.
- The gas burner brings out the sweetness in the salad without giving the bitterness you get when you grill it, she smiles and promises that the chicken salad both looks and tastes different from the usual.
It is the goal of all the dishes she serves.
- We prepare all the dishes as if they were vegetarian dishes, so that the vegetables come out properly. Like the grilled halibut with fennel and crunchy, roasted sunflower seeds, and the fish soup with jalapeno oil and grilled salad, she smiles.
Kyllingsalat på Raet Mat
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Kyllingsalat på Raet Mat
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
The restaurant has a new, stylish interior.
Interiør i Raet Mat
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Interiør i Raet Mat
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Raet nasjonalpark
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Raet nasjonalpark
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
A place to stay - for a long time
If nature wasn't enough, Nadja's menu review makes you want to stay at Hove even more. For many days.
Fortunately, there are good opportunities for that. Beyond the lounge bar Cuba, the glamping site awaits, with Kyrgyz yurt tents and 21 camping cabins. And beautiful promises of peace and chirping birds.
- It is magical to wake up here, describes Kathinka.
Nor is her campsite Hove's only option for glamping and luxury. A little further into the headland is Arendal Herregaard Spa & Resort, which in addition to 69 rooms and suites entices with beautiful glamping tents on the lawn a stone's throw from the pebble beaches.
The feeling of old-fashioned luxury still lingers in the walls of the hotel, which, among other things, owns Norway's largest collection of Carl B. Hestman's sailing ship paintings.
If the budget is lower and the family is large, Hove Leirsenter has spacious cabins for rent. And Raet Camping offers tent pitches for those who want to fend for themselves.
No matter how you live - and how long you stay at Hove - Kathinka promises that you will find peace.
- For me, Hove is by far the most beautiful place in the whole of Arendal. Here you will always find laughter on one of the sides. And the area is so large that it never feels full. Every Sunday, 2,000–3,000 people pass by here. Nevertheless, it is as quiet as now, says Kathinka.
If not, it is probably because you are climbing under the treetops in TrollPark. It's magical, too.
Servitør Boie Eker serverer pizza på Arendal Herregård Resort og Spa
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Servitør Boie Eker serverer pizza på Arendal Herregård Resort og Spa
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Yurt på Arendal Herregård og spa
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Yurt på Arendal Herregård og spa
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Photo: Gjermund Glesnes
Photo: Gjermund Glesnes