Hedalen is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

Sør-Aurdal Municipality Sør-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bagn. Other villages in the municipality include Begna, Hedalen, a ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The long valley is a side valley which branches off the main

Begnadalen Begnadalen or Begndalen is a valley in Norway. The valley runs through Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county and Ringerike Municipality in Viken county. The long valley follows the river Begna from Bagn to the lake Sperillen. The Europea ...

. The river Urula flows through the valley. The central part of the valley is located about to the northwest of Nes i Ådal, about so the southeast of

Bagn Bagn is the administrative centre of Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located in the Begnadalen valley, about to the southeast of the town of Fagernes. The river Begna runs through the village on its way thro ...

, and about to the east of

Nesbyen Nesbyen is a town and the administrative center in Nesbyen municipality in the county of Viken, Norway. Nesbyen is located in the traditional district of Hallingdal. Summary Nesbyen has a population of about 3,500 inhabitants. It is located o ...

. The valley is characterized by

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

, agricultural properties, and scattered private homes, extends

west West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

and northwards from Nes i Ådal at the south end of the Begnadalen valley as it heads towards the

Vassfaret Vassfaret is a forested mountain valley in southern Norway. The valley is located on the border of the municipalities of Flå, Nesbyen, and Ringerike in Viken county and Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county. The valley lies between the H ...

valley. The lake

Sperillen Sperillen is a lake in the valley of Ådal in Ringerike municipality, Viken county, Norway.Sperillen
Store Norske Leksikon, retrieved ...

Ringerike Municipality Ringerike is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Ringerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hønefoss. The municipality ...

is located at the south end of the Hedalen valley. The

conservation area includes part of the Hedalen valley and areas to the west. Hedalen stavkyrkje

The County Road 243 is the main road through Hedalen, and a small toll road from there heads west into

. The valley includes many homes and built up areas along the main road including the Hedalen primary and lower secondary school, two convenience stores, and a small

filling station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoli ...

with service shop. The area is also known for

Hedalen Stave Church Hedalen Stave Church ( no, Hedalen stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The stave church is located in the Hedalen valley. It is the church for the Hedalen parish which is ...

, a preserved

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts a ...

built in the 1100s that is still in use. The valley has access via County Road 243 from Nes i Ådal, County Road 225 from

, and County Road 223 from (

Hallingdal Hallingdal ( en, Halling Valley) is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. Hal ...

. It is also possible to get there via the Strømsoddbygdveien from

Sokna Sokna is a small village located between Hønefoss and Krøderen in the municipality of Ringerike, in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Its population is 543. Location Sokna is located in the valley of Soknedalen, between the Sogna and Ver ...

. This is the old royal road to

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre Slidre ...

History

Since ancient times, Hedalen has been a major supplier of

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

, and there were annual floats of timber on the local rivers until the late 1960s. This has been re-recorded as a cultural heritage event, and there is an annua
log pond damming
in Vassafaret. The authors

Mikkjel Fønhus Mikkjel Fønhus (14 March 1894 – 28 October 1973) was a Norwegian journalist, novelist and short story writer. Fønhus' stories are often set in the wilderness, featuring animals and animal behaviour. Personal life Mikkel Arnesen Fønhus was bo ...

and

Edvard Elsrud Edvard is a form of Edward and may refer to: * Edvard Askeland (born 1954), Norwegian jazz musician * Edvard Befring (born 1936), Norwegian educationalist * Edvard Beneš (1884–1948), Czech politician * Edvard Christian Danielsen (1888–1964), ...

have set much of the action in several books throughout Hedalen and the areas in Vassfaret, among others ''Skoggandsmand'', ''Slagbjørnen Rugg'', and ''Bjørnejakt i Vassfaret''. People of the valley have had great interest for maintaining the local history by establishing a

living museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recr ...

Bautahaugen Samlinger Bautahaugen Samlinger (Bautahaugen collections) is a small museum in Hedalen, Sør-Aurdal municipality, Norway. The museum is a subsidiary of Valdres Folkemuseum. History Bautahaugen was founded in 1902, by local trader Erik J. Bergsrud (1848–1 ...

. In addition, Bautahaugen has also purchased a complete farmstead
Bergsrud i Hedalen
which was established as a "living farm" that is run and operated in historically-accurate ways. There is also an old privately-owned mill

, which is in good condition but is no longer in operation.

References

External links

hedalen.no
{{authority control Valleys of Innlandet Sør-Aurdal

History

See also

References

External links