Solstråleøya

A small wooded islet close to Store Godøy (Great Godøy) has for several years been called Solstråleøya (The island of sunrays). Trees like linden, beech, birch and larch and Douglas fir grow here and the ivy lies as a green carpet on the forest ground between holly and wild roses. John Musgrove, probably one of the many Englishmen who visited Godøsund Hotel in the 1880s, obtained a title to the two islets Erleholmen and Olderholmen in 1889. Here he built a castle-like house, a very fairly-tale castle, with additions and extensions “something in between a greenhouse and a theatre set” as King Olav put it. Through a gift in 1906 Norway’s Crown Prince became the owner of “Solstraaleøen”. The island was in the royal family until 1991. Then the property was transferred to Tysnes municipality to the benefit of the people in Tysnes to be used for recreation for the physically disabled.