FAGRABREKKA AND OUR FARM

Guesthouse

Fagrabrekka was opened on July 1, 2017. The guesthouse is on our farm, Syðri-Rauðalækur, which we bought in the year 2000 to use as a retreat for us and our family, for breeding horses and planting trees.

As a guest of Fagrabrekka you are welcome to explore our 210 ha of land, which lies up to highway #1 and down to the river Rauðalækur („Red river“) you see from your cabin. We own land on both sides of the driveway. Our land is separated from the lands of our neighbours by ditches that start south of the highway and go all the way down to the river.

Environment

We love our land and want to take good care of it so that when we leave it will be in a better shape than it was when we came here. We kindly ask our guests to show the same respect.

• When we came here there was just a single tree on the whole land. That tree didn‘t survive the rebuilding of the farmhouse, which took place in 2007, so all the trees you see on our land have been planted by us. We‘ve planted our trees for a reason; they serve as a shelter for us and our animals and offset our carbon footprint. We also believe they make the environment more friendly.
• Horses can be heavy on the land. We steer the grazing of our horses to ensure they don‘t destroy the vegetation.
• We use ecolabelled cleaning products and toilet paper. We recycle plastic packaging, paper and cardboard and deposit beverage containers. We use organic waste for composting.

Horses

The only horse race in Iceland is the Icelandic horse, a race that the Vikings brought with them when settling in Iceland in the 9th century. The race has been bred here since then and is one of the purest horse races in the world, due to the isolation of the island and the fact that it is forbidden to import live stock to Iceland.

The Icelandic horse is known for its genuine and welcoming character. The horses are friendly, adventurous, smart, and quick to learn, usually very easy to handle, cooperative both on the ground and while ridden – yet also powerful and with a great will to work.

Birdlife

Moorland birds nest here at Sydri-Raudalaekur. Oystercatcher, Black-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel and Redshank are quite common as well as the Snipe and the Whimbrel. The Golden Plover, which in Iceland is a sign of spring, nests here also and the White Wagtail makes itself at home in the vicinity of the farmhouses.

The Raven croaks from the barn roof where it rests regularly.

If your’e lucky you might catch a glimpse of a Merlin or a Gyrfalcon, beautiful birds that cause commotion with the other birds.