Home to the Fjord
Stina and Fredrik found their dream house, and a way back home
Stina Mydland (29) and Fredrik Trydal Horjen (29) had no plans to return to Flekkefjord any time soon. Then their dream house came up for sale.
Stina walks across the floor, covered in a thin layer of protective paper. Warm evening light slides down the walls of the half-assembled kitchen. The air smells of paint and filler. Sharp and new. In the background, her partner Fredrik's circular saw hums along.
Here, among sawdust and tools, a home is taking shape.
Stina slides open the locally made kitchen door. It opens the house to the world outside, letting in the hillsides with their gnarled pines and birches just coming into leaf. Far below, the fjord glitters, as if it has dressed up a little for the occasion.
Getting hold of a property like this at this price in a bigger city would have been out of the question. But by moving home we suddenly had the chance to get exactly what we wanted: a house, a view and a garden.
Stina Mydland"It has taken on an extra dimension now," Stina says, resting a hand on her stomach, which soon will be home to a new little citizen of Flekkefjord.
The long way home
Stina and Fredrik were born in Flekkefjord hospital at around the same time. In first grade they sat under their desk holding hands. Their parents are old friends, and the two of them have followed each other through life. Both spent their childhood summers at the family cabins further out along the fjord, growing up around boats, swimming and crab fishing.
They became a couple in secondary school and have been together ever since. That didn't necessarily mean they would end up back in Flekkefjord, though. Both needed to discover the world on the other side of those hillsides.
It was important for us to experience what lay beyond Trolldalen. That's probably something a lot of people recognise, that roundabout route you take before you finally come home.
Stina Mydland
Working remotely
They studied in different parts of the country. Stina completed a master's in societal safety in the oil capital of the west, while Fredrik took his degree in marine technical operations in Tønsberg in the east. Fredrik eventually found work as a marine mechanic, while Stina was hired as a project consultant at Netpower in Stavanger.
Then they heard about a house in Skottelia in Flekkefjord that was about to come on the market. Fredrik couldn't ignore it.
It's a house I drove past almost every single day growing up. It has been my dream house for as long as I can remember.
Fredrik Trydal HorjenStina quickly received a job offer from a local company, but she wanted to speak with her boss at Netpower before accepting.
He asked whether I would consider staying on with them if I could open a new branch office in Flekkefjord. That possibility hadn't even crossed my mind, but it turned out to be the perfect arrangement, giving me the best of both worlds.
Stina Mydland
She now works out of the co-working space S32 in Flekkefjord, where 19 businesses share the same building. Through a recruiter, Fredrik landed a job at AMV, one of Flekkefjord's cornerstone companies. He strongly recommends that route to anyone thinking about moving home.
A recruiter knows the local business landscape, what skills are in demand and what opportunities exist. Your dream job might be right here even if no vacancy has been posted on the job boards.
Fredrik Trydal HorjenWithin reach
Out in the sea between Flekkefjord and Egersund there is a point where the tidal forces cancel each other out, meaning the coastline here has no rise and fall of the tide at all. It makes this stretch of shore genuinely unique in the world. A fixed point, a built-in resting pulse for the people who live here. Something you probably don't notice when you've grown up with it, but that you feel the absence of keenly once you've left.
What we appreciate most here, and what we missed when we lived away, is the peace and the freedom. Being able to spontaneously take the boat or the kayak out to a small island after work and just be.
Stina Mydland
When they lived in an apartment in the middle of Stavanger they had to drive to reach nature. Now they can step straight out the door and into the forest. A swimming spot is just a few hundred metres from the house. The kindergarten and school are only a stone's throw away.
Things feel closer and more accessible here, precisely because it's a smaller place. You may not have every amenity a bigger city offers at any given moment, but you have so much else that matters.
Fredrik Trydal HorjenWorth coming home for
Like so many others who grew up in a small place, they had to leave first, the way salmon head out to sea once they've grown large enough in the river. And like the salmon, they kept finding their way back at intervals, until the day they could finally make the full journey home.
Even though it's a smaller place with a quieter pace, time doesn't stand still. There's a lot happening here. Companies doing exciting innovation and building tomorrow's workplaces. More time for the things that bring joy and energy, and the security of raising children in a small community. That was worth coming home for.
Stina Mydland