Gästgivars is a farm in the village of Vallsta, in Hälsingland, in central Sweden, and inside its wooden buildings are some of the finest painted rooms in the country. It is one of the seven decorated farmhouses of Hälsingland inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012, recognized for the extraordinary wealth of folk art that prosperous farmers commissioned in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The name means the innkeeper's farm, and it once served as an inn for travellers along the road through the Ljusnan valley.
The farmers of Hälsingland grew rich from flax and forestry, and they spent their money on large houses with rooms reserved for festive occasions, painted from floor to ceiling by itinerant artists. The paintings at Gästgivars include biblical scenes, flowers and decorative patterns in bright colours, combining rural traditions with styles borrowed from the manor houses of the nobility. The farm is still owned by the same family, and guided tours show the rooms in summer.
The Ljusnan valley is a peaceful landscape of forests, lakes and farms, with the river flowing south towards the Gulf of Bothnia. The roads are well surfaced, with gentle curves following the valley and long straights through the forest. Traffic is light, but watch out for moose and deer, especially at dawn and dusk, and for logging trucks. Summer is the best season, with long days and mild temperatures, and the light at midsummer is magical, with only a short twilight at night. Winters are long and cold, with snow and ice on the roads.
Arbrå, seven kilometres away, is a small village with basic services, and Bollnäs, twenty kilometres south, is a larger town with fuel and shops. Järvsö, to the north, is a popular summer destination with a ski hill used for mountain biking and a wildlife park. Swedish fika, coffee and a cinnamon bun, is a ritual not to be missed. In the evening, the light on the river and the red wooden houses of the valley is beautiful, and the silence of the forest is broken only by birdsong.