From summer farm to tourist destination
The story starts at a smallholding in Rauland in 1912, where great-grandmother used to make goat’s milk. In 1946 the mountain farm of Vierli was bought as an extra patch of land for a farm, but it would turn out to be a brilliant buy.
Såve and Bjarne Larsen took over a smallholding that was hardly big enough to be worth running. With a mixture of sound business sense, mad hope and faith they set out on an exciting adventure. First they turned the barn at Træi (their farm in Rauland) into a animal shed. The goats spent the whole summer at Vierli, where the family ran a traditional summer farm. They also arranged open days and other events, aimed at both the local population and visitors from further afield. No-one ever doubted their incredible enthusiasm and creativity. Såve also had a dream of developing tourism in the mountains. In 1939 she decided to exploit the potential that she saw in the passing traffic on the road through Rjukan, and set up a kiosk. Whilst Bjarne acted as the “dairymaid”, she laid plans for opening a café and hotel. Såve had a lot of contacts, and this network of people was crucial to financing the café, which obtained funding from Diplom-is and Trio. Såve ran this big business herself, and she also managed to get a ski lift built, which was a major investment at that time. She was in charge of the business for 22 years, and she was referred to as the mother of Vierli. Her youngest son Erlend came home to take over the business in 1989.
What he took over was a business in decline. New competitors had appeared, taking market share from Vierli.
His solution to the problem was to build a sled lift, and to design sleds to be used at his own facility and for export throughout Europe. He also built high quality holiday cabins to meet modern expectations. The sled lift was a new idea, and it was what brought Vierli back into the limelight.
These days Vierli is a “complete destination” with its own niche in the tourist industry of Vinje and Telemark.