Jorlia

Down in Orkdalen, between Ry and Å, there is a large farm situated high, open, and solitary on the hillside. It is Jorlia, the last farm in Rennebu before the route enters Orkland.

Jorlia was cleared sometime around the year 1000 and developed into a large farmstead, with the forest in particular being its most important resource. At one time Jorlia had more than 50 buildings, but at some point in the 18th century the farm burned down, and the buildings standing today were constructed after the fire. In 1907 the farm was purchased by Christian Thams. He separated out the forest and the river and sold the farm on. The Fortidsminneforeningen (Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments) also owned the farm for a period, but later sold it to a private owner.

What makes Jorlia distinctive is that the land has never been intensively cultivated by machine; farming here continued in the traditional way right up until recent times. This means that the areas around Jorlia today form an important cultural landscape with a biodiversity found in very few other places.

In Gudbrandsdalen, old farms typically have two courtyards, an inner and an outer yard, as can be seen for example at the Budsjord farm in Dovre. Here at Jorlia we encounter a completely different courtyard layout - the square courtyard. This distinctive traditional Trøndelag courtyard developed from the Middle Ages, when first the barn and the storehouse were built with two storeys, and the square courtyard form became increasingly refined. From the beginning of the 18th century, the main residential houses were added. From the late 18th century came the characteristic Trønderlåns (long timber farmhouses), along with farm buildings that combined many functions under one roof. This is how the courtyard at Jorlia appears today.