Brandvikneset

Bu

Frette

Gjerde

Gjernes

Hisøya

"I am going to prove to you that I am right". That is what the idealist and county doctor Christian Heitmann is supposed to have said in the early 1890s. He sat together with the parish priest, Kullmann, at Heitmann's home in Stord and discussed whether the islands in western Norway could have been forested or not. The priest thought that the area was too barren and weather-beaten for forest to have been able to grow so far out in the sea. But, Heitmann was sure he was right. He challenged the scepticism and set off to work.

Hopsfjellet

On June 2nd, 1992, a big forest fire broke out in Sveio. The fire started southeast of Hopsfjellet. In a strong wind the flames spread quickly northward. Houses on the other side of the highway were threatened, but escaped unscathed. The burned area, which is easily visible about a 5 minute's drive south from the tunnel at the triple- junction, was made into a nature reserve in 1998. The intention was to ensure that the re-establishment of plant- and animal life would take place without disturbance.

Huse

The farm Huse is situated on a broad terrace in the valley above the church and the commons ground in Kinsarvik. Huse is one of the largest farms in Kinsarvik. The house from the Middle Ages, still standing at Huse today, probably from the middle of 1200, is joined on to a house in the Swiss style from around 1890. This house, with a smoke-vent in the roof, bears witness of a grand old farm and of the chieftain’s power in early medieval times.

Husedalen

Kjerland

On the farms Kjerland and Røynstrond, east of the river that flows into the fjord, we find many decorative painters who belong to the so-called sòlekistemålarane in Hardanger: Knut and Mikkjel Røynstrand and Johannes Jonsson Kjærland.