Øygarden

Øygarden from Skjåk is located on the hillside above Bjørnstad. This is a medium-sized farm consisting of 19 separate buildings. Like Bjørnstad the houses are placed around two yards, the inner and the outer yard. The steep terrain has contributed to the location of the yards and made them less evident than at Bjørnstad.

Sommerstua (the summer house), the large farmhouse at the lowest level of the yard, was built around 1750. Here you can experience farming life from the 1890s. 
Vinterstua (the winter house) is a smaller building, where the inhabitants lived during winter when there were fewer people on the farm. By having smaller rooms to keep warm, they were able to save a lot of wood. 

The Kårbygning (housing parents and unmarried siblings) is small and located at the top end of the yard. This was used at one time to house a traveling school teacher. The Stabbur (food store) lies in the middle of the yard and forms the inner and outer yard division. Around the outer yard, you find the cowshed, stable, byres, barns, and hay barns. The bed for the milkmaid is inside the cowshed. She both worked and lived with the animals. This cow shed had a manure cellar to keep the place cleaner than the older type of byres.

The smithy, the cook-house, and the drying rooms are located in the outer yard to avoid fire in the main houses. Open fires were burning in these houses, and this made a fire hazard to these houses and other houses nearby on the farm. The mill is located quite a distance from the farm. This is due to the need of having a fast-running stream.

• The people at the farm were excellent craftsmen, as can be seen around the farm.
• The summer and winter houses both have extraordinary nice wrought iron fittings on the doors, made by the farmer Kristen Rasmussen Øygard.
• The furniture in the winter house is made by Rolf Kristensen Øygard (1747-1809); he was a very experienced carpenter, smith and wood carver.