Imagine waking up on a Saturday morning in late October, the wood-burning fireplace still warm from the night before, the windows framing a steel-grey Store Gjøljavatnet that mirrors the birch trees stripped bare by the first autumn winds. You pull on your boots and you're on a hiking trail in four minutes flat. No crowds. No noise. Just the crunch of frost underfoot and the distant call of a fieldfare somewhere in the treeline. That's the reality of life at Gjøljabakken 7 — and it's the kind of morning that makes you wonder why you waited so long to buy.
Situated in Gjølja, a quiet corner of Bjugn municipality on Norway's Trøndelag coast, this two-bedroom year-round holiday house sits between two fishing lakes — Lille Gjøljavatnet and Store Gjøljavatnet — with the kind of direct, no-fuss access to the outdoors that most leisure properties only promise in the brochure. At 57 square metres spread across two floors, it's compact but cleverly arranged, built in 1966 and kept in good condition by owners who clearly used and loved it.
The living room is the heart of the place. Large windows face out toward Store Gjøljavatnet, so the lake is almost always in your peripheral vision — glittering in summer, frozen and eerily quiet in February. The fireplace anchors the room, and after a long day on skis or a few hours out with a fishing rod, there's something genuinely restorative about that particular combination of lake view and wood smoke. The kitchen, at around 8 square metres, is functional and practical — no wasted space, and the view from the kitchen window while you're making coffee is frankly unfair for something this affordable.
Two bedrooms cover the sleeping arrangements. The larger of the two runs to 12.5 square metres and could double as a TV lounge if you're coming solo or as a couple who want flexibility. The second bedroom at 5.7 square metres works well for children or a guest who doesn't need much more than a good night's sleep after a day outdoors. The tiled bathroom has a shower, toilet, and wall-mounted sink, and a separate laundry room sits right next to it — a detail that matters more than it sounds when you're washing out wet hiking layers every other day. Heating comes from electric heaters and the wood burner, which together make the house genuinely comfortable across all four seasons.
Outside, the 300 square metre owned lot gives you room to breathe — a garden for summer afternoons, a 12 square metre terrace at the entrance where you can sit with a thermos and watch the light change over the water. The house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, so traffic is essentially nonexistent, and the layout of the outdoor space makes it relaxed and safe for kids.
Now for the part that makes this property genuinely stand out as a second home investment in Norway: the access. The nearest cross-country ski trail is 0.8 kilometres from your door. Trøndelag winters are long enough and cold enough to make that meaningful — you're talking about conditions from roughly November through March in a typical year. In warmer months, the same trail network becomes hiking terrain, and both Lille and Store Gjøljavatnet are well known locally for good trout fishing. You can swim in the lakes in summer too — not the Arctic plunge people imagine when they think of Norway, but genuinely pleasant on a July afternoon when temperatures in Bjugn regularly reach the mid-twenties Celsius.
Bjugn itself is about 12 minutes by car — close enough that you can drive in for groceries at Rema 1000 (roughly 9 minutes) without it feeling like an expedition, but far enough that the area around Gjølja feels genuinely rural and removed. The town has the essentials covered: shops, restaurants, schools, a health centre. For a bigger day out, Ørland — home to the Ørland Air Station and the wider Ørland municipality — is about 30 minutes away and has more in the way of cultural events, including the annual Ørland Kultursenter programme that runs everything from concerts to theatre through the winter months. Trondheim, Trøndelag's capital and one of Norway's most liveable cities, is roughly two hours south and worth the drive for a weekend of the Solsiden waterfront restaurants, the Nidaros Cathedral, and the old Bakklandet neighbourhood with its colourful wooden houses and independent coffee shops.
Getting here is straightforward for international buyers. Trondheim Airport Værnes handles flights from across Europe, including regular connections from the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. From Værnes, Bjugn is around an hour and forty minutes by car via the E6 and coastal roads. Ørland Airport, just 30 minutes from the property, handles smaller regional flights and can be a useful secondary option depending on your point of origin.
For anyone considering this as a vacation home in Norway or a second home in Scandinavia, the practical considerations are worth spelling out. Norway has no restrictions on EU or most international citizens purchasing leisure property. The property is freehold — the 300 square metre lot is owned outright, not leased. Running costs are modest: Norwegian electricity prices fluctuate but the combination of the wood burner and well-insulated structure keeps annual costs manageable. The property's condition means you're not looking at a renovation project — it's move-in ready, and you could realistically be here for a first weekend within weeks of completion. Norwegian short-term rental platforms like Finn.no and Airbnb both have active markets for cabin and leisure property rentals in Trøndelag, giving you genuine income potential during the weeks you're not using it yourself.
Key features at a glance:
- 2 bedrooms, 1 tiled bathroom with shower, separate laundry room
- Fireplace and electric heating for year-round comfort
- Large living room windows with direct views over Store Gjøljavatnet
- 300 sqm owned freehold plot with terrace and garden
- Cross-country ski trail 0.8 km from the door
- Direct access to hiking trail network from the property
- Excellent fishing on two lakes immediately adjacent to the house
- Swimming in the lakes during summer months
- 12 minutes by car to Bjugn centre with shops and restaurants
- Bus stop a 2-minute walk away
- 9 minutes to nearest grocery store
- 30 minutes to Ørland Airport
- Quiet cul-de-sac location, safe for children
- Good condition — no renovation required
- Strong short-term rental potential in an active Norwegian leisure property market
This is a holiday home in Norway that actually delivers on the promise of outdoor living — not a project, not a compromise, not a stretch. A house by two fishing lakes with ski trails out the back door, priced at a level that makes it accessible as a genuine second home investment rather than a once-in-a-lifetime gamble. Properties at this price point with this kind of location access in Trøndelag don't stay available for long.
Get in touch with the team at Homestra today to arrange a viewing or to find out more about the buying process as an international purchaser. We're here to walk you through every step, from your first question to the keys in your hand.
