Visitors since 1897

Mr. Th. Garmo opened Fossheim hotel in 1897 - a two-storey log building with an attic, kitchen section, two living rooms and seven bedrooms. In addition there were also barns and a stall. The site was run both as a farm and as a hotel. Up until World War I - after which cars became the more common means of transportation -- Fossheim had also served as a posting station for travellers and their horses.

The period of time during and after the second World War -- with greater demand for tourist accommodation -- led to the expansion of building mass at the site. In 1950, the second generation of hosts at Fossheim, Dr. Th. Garmo and his wife Ingrid, tore down the old hotel and erected a new larger building and accommodation unit, which was built on several tiers up from the main building. Dr. Garmo did not only run the hotel and farm, but also a grocery store. In time he also established a physical rehabilitation facility at the hotel. The hotel now was called Fossheim Hotel and Health Resort, and the physical rehabilitation facility was in operation until 1974.

In the 1950s and 1960s, several renovations were carried out in order to satisfy new demands made by new groups of tourists, especially Americans, who had to have a room with a shower and a bathroom. One of the buildings at Fossheim is still today called “Amerika,” and, as the name suggests, was built to attract American tourists.

In 1978, Arne Brimi came to Fossheim and was employed as Head Chef. This was the start of an entirely new era for Fossheim. Mr. Brimi's ideas about cooking based on local traditions and using local natural resources gave Arne Brimi and Fossheim a name and a reputation that has made the Fossheim kitchen famous in wide circles.