An artist's remote Lapland cabin painstakingly built by hand
Perched on a hill just shy of 70 degrees north and 165km north of the Arctic Circle sits Olly’s rustic log cabin. It is surrounded by forests of silver birch and black spruce of Arctic Lapland, a zone of boreal forest that stretches from Norway, Sweden, Finland and into Russia. The cabin, named ‘Bear's Nest' sits alone in a sacred mystical area called Outavaara, Sami for 'a place where anything can happen'.
Olly first fell in love with this wild and remote area of Swedish Lapland in 1998 on an Arctic expedition with his collaborative art partner Suzi, when they were painting the reindeer migration of the local Sami people, vast coniferous primeval forests and Arctic landscapes. Their paintings are imbued with the animal spirits, people and places they’ve visited on expeditions to many of the world’s most remote places. During many visits they witnessed wild wolverine, brown bear, moose, golden eagle, wolf and reindeer roam freely in the last true great wilderness of Northern Europe. Olly and I were married there in 2001 in an ancient Swedish ceremony that we were privileged to experience.
The journey to build our cabin started thousands of miles away in the town of Cody, Wyoming USA on our honeymoon. With our newborn son Bear we visited a re-creation of the original Absarokee Hut, the studio-cabin built for another nomadic artist Joseph Henry Sharp. President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned him to paint the portraits of 200 Native American warriors who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn. While working on this project, Sharp lived on the land of the Crow Agency, Montana, where he built Absarokee Hut in 1905. “I have built…my ‘hut’ in just this spot because I wanted to paint the winter landscape here as well as the Indians,” Sharp stated, “to paint them day after day and month after month.”
Sharp’s cabin interior embodied the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement in America, good design and good craftsmanship. He traded furniture for paintings and collected Native Indian artefacts that inspired him. His hand-built Absarokee Hut made a special connection with us both as a tribute to the idealism of the artist and North American Indian culture.
Measuring it onsite using our hands we were struck by its perfect proportions of 15 by 24 feet with approximately a 16 feet pitch above the mezzanine sleeping area. Each corner of the cabin had a specific purpose – for sitting, eating, washing, cooking – and with the large central wood burning stove it was simply functional and comfortable. We continued to think about it over the next few years until we found the most perfect place to build our own, which then took a few more years.
Our cabin in a remote part of Swedish Lapland is west facing, protected from the harsh north-east winds by thick hand-hewn pine logs in the traditional Swedish style. Without a single nail, each log fits and slides into the next like a jigsaw, overlapping to ensure no wind can penetrate. Even with larger than usual windows for this far north, the structure fits seamlessly into the boreal taiga. Its undertaking by local artisans was epic considering there are no roads for 5km from our nearest village of Lannavaara: to access the cabin, it’s either across the swamp in the spring and summer or the frozen lakes in the winter.
The main structure was built offsite in the spring and transported by military track vehicle along trails made across the frozen lakes. It was then left to stand and settle into its new life through the first snows until the next springtime when the builders hiked out each day to complete the roof, floor and windows until they were weather-tight. The final flourish was a tiny hut outside containing the long-drop with a heart carved in the door at just the right height to look out into the wilderness.
The heart of the cabin is a 16kw wood-burning stove, the lifeblood that keeps us warm, melts snow for fresh water and feeds us. When the arctic winter temperature dips at night we still remain cosy inside listening to the wind swirling around us.
The cabin is full of furniture ranging from an American Arts and Crafts desk given to us by an art collector friend leaving London for New York, and antique Swedish pieces from local villages such as a pair of handmade sleigh-beds that have extended with our growing children since they were born. Brightly coloured Mexican and Native Indian blankets and reindeer hides drape over the mezzanine balcony creating privacy for sleeping as in Sharp's cabin.
Among the art hung on the pine walls is a black and white photograph taken of Scott's trek to the South Pole in 1911 — a journey from which he never returned. Herbert Ponting, the chief photographer, took this photograph of Scott and four other men from the Terra Nova expedition before they perished on the long walk back from their epic journey south. There is also a small painting by Olly & Suzi of the small village church built in 1933 with its pretty pale yellow walls, steeple and spire.
The cabin is lit only by a candle chandelier and there’s no running water. We retreat here with books and games and enough food and time to settle into a style of living that is slow to prepare each day. With only a few hours of light during the winter we plan hikes through the forests and build fire pits to cook sausages under the boughs of an enormous pine. The magical Northern Lights Aurora Borealis – legend says it is the ‘polar bear's breath’ – feels spiritually enlightening standing on our porch looking up at the moving sky. Each time we are blessed to witness it it still takes our breath away as columns of floating coloured lights appear and approach each other, swirling into shapes and opening new spaces of lighter streaks. The ethereal aspects of this region and the other-worldly nature of the environment ensure the long nights are filled with the shining moon, stars and wonder.
Olly’s cabin has been a long journey and we owe it to the kindness and generosity of our local village Sami and Lapp friends who for generations reaped gold from the rivers and semi-precious stones from the foothills of Kourmakka. They understood Olly’s yearning to bring his young family to be in harmony with nature. Each time we visit is a very special and unique adventure where the Tomten arrives at Christmas, bottles of Woodford Reserve are shared and anything can happen.
Mark Fox1/10Olly sitting at the dining table in the cabin. The furniture is a mix of antique Swedish pieces and pieces that Olly and Lisa brought out with them from their home in West Sussex.
Mark Fox2/10Logs are gathered from the surrounding forests, while the rustic dining table plays host to cosy family suppers.
Mark Fox3/10Another view of the dining area, with stairs leading up to the mezzanine sleeping area. Reindeer skins are draped over the benches, while an antique blue cabinet (a Swedish piece) provides storage for food, pots and pans.
Mark Fox4/10Lisa on the stairs with Olly.
Mark Fox5/10Olly and Lisa’s daughter Kora (so-called after a national park in Kenya) often visits the cabin with her parents and has been going out there since she was just a few months old.
Mark Fox6/10At the opposite end of the cabin to the dining area is the sitting area, which consists of two comfy sofas that Olly and Lisa brought out from England.
Mark Fox7/10A pair of cross country skis are propped up in the corner of the room and are often used by the family who love to be outdoors with local friends.
Mark Fox8/10In one corner of the living area, a collection of art hangs above a table that plays host to Olly’s whiskey collection. The top piece is of the local Church in the village of Lannavara and was painted by Olly & Suzi. They have been coming out on trips to this wild and remote area of Swedish Lapland since 1998.
Mark Fox9/10Upstairs in the cabin, the mezzanine level snugly accommodates two simple wooden beds – one for Kora and one for Lisa and Olly’s son, Bear – and a double mattress.
Mark Fox10/10An antique Swedish daybed sits in one corner of the main living space, next to a simple little washing area. Olly and Lisa melt snow for water and heat it up on the central stove.
