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I’ve stayed in so many Airbnbs over the past decade—upwards of 150, including an off-grid Earthship Biotecture in New Mexico and a barebones treehouse in rural Sri Lanka—you might just call me a super-user. I’ve met fascinating Airbnb hosts from all over the world along the way but none who have embraced unfettered hospitality quite like fifth-generation sheep farmer Harriet Olafsdóttir av Gørðum and her husband John, co-owners of Hanusarstova, a thoughtful little bed & breakfast in the Faroe Islands.
My husband and I spent a week road-tripping around the remote North Atlantic archipelago in June. It was technically our honeymoon, although with our mercurial 16-month-old son, Julian, in tow, it would more accurately be called a “familymoon.” After two indulgent nights at the four-star Hotel Føroyar in the Faroese capital of Tórshavn, we switched to stand-alone rentals with kitchens and more room for an on-the-move toddler.
The reasons we chose the Faroe Islands for Julian’s first transatlantic trip were many, starting with the fact that they’re gobsmackingly beautiful—like Iceland without all the tourists. The 18 windswept volcanic isles, of which we visited seven, are home to thundering waterfalls, turf-roofed churches, black-sand beaches, thrilling hiking trails, protected puffin colonies, and more sheep than people (70,000 of them, in fact). Our family loves nature and animals, and both were top of mind on our daily outings. This is also what led us to Hanusarstova.
In addition to raising sheep, Harriet is a talented photographer who has built a cult following on Instagram for posting pictures of her ewes and rams wearing floral crowns she makes herself. These Insta-famous woolies are so popular, in fact, some of her Airbnb guests are starstruck when they finally meet them in the flesh.
Harriet and John’s 125-year-old farmhouse is the second oldest home in the wee village of Æðuvík (population: 103), just a 20-minute drive from Tórshavn. It’s also a homesteader’s dream: They grow potatoes, herbs, and rhubarb; collect eggs with bright orange yolks from a chicken coop in their backyard; and pluck wild thyme from the nearby mountainside. The couple, both in their thirties, has been hosting travelers for heimablídni, or private in-home dinners, for about seven years but didn’t open their standalone one-bedroom, one-bath guesthouse until last summer. Harriet’s animal portraits fill an all-white gallery wall in the rental, their drama further accentuated by high ceilings, Ukrainian birch wood, and minimalist boucle furnishings.
The two-story space, designed by a friend from Kraft Architects, has a turf roof with a ramp for grazing sheep, giant picture windows that frame the rolling green hills and steely blue sea some 650 feet beyond, and shades that can be drawn with the touch of a button. That last feature proved immensely helpful in getting our son to sleep despite June’s blazing midnight sun.
With two young children of their own, Harriet and John went above and beyond rolling out the red carpet for our family. A travel crib with downy-soft bedding was set up in the loft, there was a high chair at the dining room table, and a stack of Faroese and Danish children’s books awaiting our arrival. The mini-fridge and cabinets were stocked with eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt, fruit, granola, from-scratch rhubarb jam, sourdough bread from Breyðvirkið in Tórshavn, and anything else we would need to prepare a breakfast feast. Even with that, John brought over a tower of warm pancakes on our first morning (much to Julian’s delight).
After settling in, Harriet took our family to meet and greet some of her farm animals. Our kiddo was over-the-moon giggly chasing chickens but kept a wary distance from the fuzzy angora bunnies. Sloppy kisses from the couple’s two sheep-herding dogs Scott and Jess were a hit, as was a fleeting cameo by the barn cat Zoe.
But what stands out most about Hanusarstova are the little touches: the fresh-cut flowers on the dining room table, the luxurious Norwegian bath products zhuzh-ing up the deep Japanese-style soaking tub, the locally blended teas ready to be sipped from enamel mugs plastered with the visages of Harriet’s flock.
We spent three wonderful nights at Hanusarstova and found it to be a convenient home base for exploring both Eysturoy and the surrounding Faroese islands. But it was our final evening that was the most memorable. Gathered around Harriet and John’s dinner table, we tucked into free-range, grass-fed lamb tacos—“The only lamb I eat is my own lamb,” Harriet told us, “because I know they had a very good life”—her homemade rhubarb salsa, roasted carrots and potatoes, and a beautiful chocolate-rhubarb cake decorated with freshly picked flowers. The couple’s two daughters, eight-year-old Jona and three-year-old Maja Ly, bounced around the living room with our giddy-as-can-be son while us adults drank wine and chatted about everything from global warming to Faroese whaling traditions.
Guests who fall in love with Hanusarstova can take a piece of the farmstead home in the form of prints, postcards, and other memorabilia featuring Harriet’s photos of Bambi, Olaf, and the rest of the flock. For us, however, the best souvenir was the incredible friendship extended by our hosts.
