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Featured place to stay: Ongajok Mountain Farm, Norway

Submitted by richard on 21 October, 2006 - 17:52.

If Santa had a bolthole, this would be it. Ongajok is a cosy, traditional Norwegian farm tucked away in the far north of Norway in Arctic Lapland. This is the heart of Finnmark, land of the Sami people.

Finnmark is the kind of place where the locals learn to ski before they can walk. The farm has been converted into an eco-friendly centre for outdoor activities such as cross-country skiing, ice fishing, reindeer-sledding and snow rafting.

It's a schlep to get up there - a bumpy 25km transfer from Alta - though I recommend you take the final 4km by horse and sleigh to get you in the festive mood. The centre mainly caters for groups so the emphasis is on communal living - soothe your aching muscles in a large outdoor bath tub heated by a firewood stove before eating together at long dining room tables where regional specialities include local mushrooms and berries, grouse and fish from the mountain lakes.

The pine rooms are comfortable but very basic - the cunningly disguised en suite compost toilet is not exactly bog standard. If you've time, spend a night in the wilderness in a lavoo tipi where you'll learn tips on how to keep warm, Sami-style.

· 0047 7843 2600, ongajok.no. Rooms Nkr 1,790pp (around £140) half-board including all activities.

Above Photo © Richard Hammond.

This article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the Guardian

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