A place for Digital Nomads who appreciate spectacular nature. 1000 years of history and culture still alive. A large farmhouse dating back to 1608 and good vibes.
sleep
7private rooms fromsingle from €420/two‑weeks €700/month
I spent two months living one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. The place is perfect—right in the middle of the fjords, with good access to a supermarket and other services. The surroundings are incredible if you love the mountains. I climbed the mountains around the area and got lost in the pure Norwegian forests, which are literally five minutes from the house. There are many hiking routes for all levels, and no matter which direction you walk, the scenery is spectacular.
The house has every comfort in excellent condition. The kitchen, bathrooms, and rooms are spacious and comfortable, and the workspace has everything you might need. Anne, the host, is a lovely person who was always attentive with us, and as long as you’re reasonable, you can pretty much do whatever you want within a logical order.
It’s a place I will always recommend to visit Norway and to work remotely—literally from paradise. I always carry the feeling inside me that one day I will return. Moritsgarden is a place you never forget and deeply miss when you go back home.
Western Norway is one of the most affecting regions on earth, and I owe my immersion in that awesome landscape to Anne/Mortisgarden. The coliving is wonderfully affordable (a novelty in Norway), rustic, and charming. More importantly, it is built and managed to foster authentic connection and community among its guests, the highest calling of any coliving space; nearly eight months after leaving, I still communicate semi-regularly with friends from my stay, and I hope to see some of them again when I return to Mortisgarden.
You’ll notice how many disparate accounts are posting in reaction to a neurotic review by a roommate everyone (except, honestly, me) tried to understand and accept. I think that reviewer has a lonely, isolated life ahead of him. But I’m thankful his slanted negativity created an opportunity to rally and show affection for Mortisgarden. I see four of my roommates among these reviews and suspect I’ll see more shortly.
Mortisgarden succeeds for its historic, rural ambiance. Unless you hate old country homes, you’ll be charmed by the living space. My room had a comfortable bed (I have back issues but slept wonderfully), an excellent desk and ergonomic chair, and big windows facing mountains where, after every rain, a half dozen waterfalls appeared. (I regularly sent waterfall videos to my family in the United States, expressing awe and good fortune at having stumbled across Anne’s webpage.) The common spaces were used frequently for group meals, movie nights, and long discussions. During weekday mealtimes there were sometimes too many cooks in the kitchen, but it took only a little strategy and negotiation to manage this. Meanwhile, the big refrigerators and two freezers meant everyone could stock up on food without difficulty, and the yard was filled with berry trees and mint bushes.
Finally, the car. Among the best and happiest moments in my recent life were driving the car Anne so generously provides along winding mountain roads. Going for groceries in that little car was an opportunity to marvel at Norway’s stunning nature. Organizing trips to local spas or fjord-side saunas was as easy as sending a WhatsApp message. And when roommates wanted to see glaciers or cliffs covered in puffins, all they had to do was ask.
There is more to say: the wood-fired hot tub on the lake, the mountain cabin, the crystalline swimming spots, the hillside mists, the ferry rides up to Älesund…so many details that made Mortisgarden one of the best decisions of my life, and a home away from home I will visit again.
I have stayed at Moritsgården not just once, but two times, both during summer (and also when the person with the negative review was there).
This is a place for people who love being in or surrounded by nature, prefer quiet over noisy, calm over busy and enjoy a small, but great community.
You'll be in a quiet village surrounded by gorgeous nature in the middle of Norway with plenty of things to do and areas to explore (from amazing beaches in the west to the deepest lake of Europe and biggest glacier on mainland Europe, also several hiking trails start right in the backyard and you don't even need a car to get there). There is no public transportation to Nordfjordeid or to the ferry at Folkestad (which brings you to Volda, from there you can take a bus to Ålesund - day trip is possible). So if you're not here with your own car you will (or should) be really grateful for being allowed to use the community car for free (you just chip in for gas) if you don't want to rent a car.
The house is old and with that comes certain downsides, yes, but it has so much charm and makes you truly feel at home. If something is missing, Anne is trying to provide it. This coliving has by far the best equipped kitchen of all the coliving spaces I've stayed at and allows you to properly cook and keep up with your usual diet. There's even a pizza oven outside and a hot plate to make crêpe, svele, dosa etc. Plus you can borrow the kayaks to paddle on the lake and some bikes to cycle to e.g Folkestad or the little gym closeby for free.
I don't recommend coming here if you expect the place to be hyper clean, if you are looking for a place to go partying or going out to restaurants on a regular basis. Or if you prefer to have a lot of solitude (then you should at least not come in summer and come in off-season instead).
I do recommend coming here if you love Norway, if you want to go hiking and/or surround yourself with nature away from the hassle, want to provide your nervous system a place to calm down, want to escape the heat of summer, want to stay active and/or slow down, want to surround yourself with nice people in a small community and be somewhere that actually feels like a home away from home.
Mortisgarden is one of those places you could call your home away from home. If I didn't come from the other side of the world, I would visit every year.
Is it an old home? Yes! 400 years old in fact and that is what makes it so special with so much history. It has been a family home that has been kindly opened up to the coliving community to get a real culture experience of life in Norway.
The weather may not be bikini weather but every time the sun poked through the clouds I ran across the road to the lake for a quick (and freezing) dip. It was incredible being surrounded by mountains and getting to share that with a small group of other digital nomads.
I wouldn't recommend this place for those who want to party, enjoy being in a bustling city or want a 5 star hotel... it is for those who enjoy the simplier things, want to slow down, enjoy nature and experience something a little different whilst in Norway.
I would like to address the one star review that's been posted by "John" (I unfortunately can't directly reply to it). I want to stand up for Anne and Moritsgarden as I think this review is extremely harsh and really doesn’t paint a fair picture.
I have stayed in Moritsgarden last September, and the person who I assume this review is from (it seems written under a pseudo name) was there too - someone who was quite critical and negative in general.
Yes, there is some truth to the review, I won’t deny that. The house is pretty old and not super well maintained, that's something that could definitely be improved. It's a bit messy, not brand spanking clean. If you expect a fancy coliving place with a cleaner twice a week, this is not the place for you.
However: it's extremely cosy and homey. The old farmhouse really has its charm and makes you feel like a local living there. It's well equipped and well heated. It's a unique opportunity staying in a remote little village in Norway. The surrounding area is just breathtaking. Anne was maybe not super involved (she seems to have a lot of projects running and I think her rationale is that the coliving is its own self-managing community), but she was very kind and generous and let us use the hot tub outside, the kayaks, the bikes, the car, for free. We were even allowed to use her cabin up in the mountains. I had a truly incredible time.
In my eyes, Moritsgarden is really a hidden gem. Expect to find peace here.
The Trolls of Bjorkedal.
I’m keeping the wording factual and non-identifying to comply with review guidelines.
Norway is gorgeous. Bjorkedal is a village straight out of a statistics report, about 21 inhabitants per km² and a very wet place.
You can’t see the Northern Lights there.
In my experience, Moritsgarden was in extremely poor condition.
Or words that Google doesn't allow me to write.
A 400-year-old house and a plot of land stuffed to the brim with junk, which becomes obvious when you open cupboards, go down into the cellar, or step into the adjoining sheds. There’s even an old, still-full slurry tank.
I was here in summer 2025 for a few weeks as a work-exchange/volunteer. When it gets too crowded, newcomers sleep in the camper van.
The smell in the trailer, and in the wall cupboards, was like slowly rotting clothes: a persistent musty, damp odor that didn’t go away.
In summer, most textiles in the house felt dry to me, but the wall cupboards still smelled musty. I’m not making a diagnosis, but sleeping in that environment felt unacceptable to me.
This is an extremely wet, cool region (precipitation ~2200 mm/year and ~229 days/year). In that context, if living spaces are kept closed for long stretches and aren’t consistently heated and ventilated, moisture can linger and contribute to persistent dampness and potential mold issues. If you have allergies, asthma/sensitive airways, or a weakened immune system, you may want to be cautious.
Some of the mattresses were very old. In some cases new mattresses were stacked on top of old ones.
During my stay I saw people leave early, besause of issues around how rooms were assigned.
The house itself felt badly put together.
Whatever can’t be found gets bought again, usually cheap at the local hardware store / Biltema.
For anyone who takes environmental protection seriously, this is a living nightmare. Right next door (part of the place) there’s an old car workshop where, at any given time, there are 2–3 half-assembled cars sitting around, plus loads of dirt and trash. There are tires everywhere on the property.
Privacy: some rooms can be darkened, others can’t. In a few sleeping areas, curtains/blackout options were missing or insufficient, and I felt the need to be extra careful when changing.
There were no clear house rules, so everyone did whatever they wanted and cleaning didn’t reliably happen. The hosts openly said they don’t like rules, dirt was treated as “totally fine.” Food was left behind (sometimes open) and sat around for a long long time.
Pests were a topic during my stay. The hosts repeatedly talked about mice getting into the house.
There’s a sauna, which didn’t work and was used as a storage room. The hot tub outside needs a long run-up (Days) because it’s heated with wood.
Most people still seemed happy, probably because it’s cheap, and if you don’t look too closely or try to resolve issues through the hosts, you can ignore a lot.
Communication with the hosts can be frustrating: practical feedback (working, tools, basic living standards) wasn’t taken on board, even when it was straightforward and would have improved daily life and speed up the work prozess.
I can only strongly advise other work-exchange/Workaway travellers not to come here based on my stay. I met people who left early because they didn’t want to keep doing things that made no sense to them for a project that, from what I saw, didn’t produce clear results.
You have to pay for the trips to the supermarket yourself: about 40 km per trip. With enough people you don’t really notice it, despite ~22 NOK/L. The vehicle was old, rusty, small, and self-maintained, you can see and feel that.
If you want to go here: come as a paying guest. Stay max. 6 weeks. Be prepared to share one kitchen and 2 toilets/showers with 8–9 people. I would not recommend relying on the hosts for problem-solving based on my experience.
Moritsgarden is more than a coliving place. I lived there for a month in August, and it transformed my perspective on life in so many ways. Work doesn’t have to be stressful when there’s a window overlooking the lake right next to your desk. Exercise doesn’t have to be hard when the hiking trail starts at your back door, with the inviting smell of wood and moss all around.
Anne has managed the place beautifully, providing enough convenience we need—office desks and chairs, a community car, boats, and even a jacuzzi by the lake—while still leaving space for us to interact with others to get things done.
I particularly love the community in Moritsgarden. There are no big parties and no obligation to join community events, yet we wanted to participate because we truly felt part of something created by us, supporting us, and reflective of who we are. It was a truly unforgettable and healing experience.
I highly recommend Moritsgarden to anyone who loves nature and people. Welcome to join us Moritsgardeners;)
I spent a month at Moritsgarden in Norway, and it was exactly what I needed. The location in the west of Norway is beautiful, with plenty of attractions to visit. I had the chance to explore the area on my motorcycle every day, which was amazing.
The atmosphere at Moritsgarden was calm and peaceful, and I felt relaxed and happy throughout my stay. It was the perfect balance of work and personal time, allowing me to enjoy both the nature and the quiet environment. Highly recommend if you're looking for a place to unwind and explore Norway.
