Every design for Åkrehamn

The name Åkrehamn joins two livelihoods, the field and the harbour, and for most of its history this town on the west side of Karmøy lived by the second. It grew up as a fishing harbour, served as the centre of the old Åkra Municipality, and was granted town status by the Karmøy council in 2002; today it is the second largest of the island's three towns, alongside Kopervik and Skudeneshavn.

Åkrehamn Kystmuseum, out on Åkreøyna, keeps that heritage: coastal culture, the fisheries and the long ties between west Karmøy and the United States. In the south of town Åkra gamle kirke, a wooden church, stands beside its modern concrete neighbour, and down by the harbour Rabinowitzplassen honours Moritz Rabinowitz, who warned against Nazism and was killed at Sachsenhausen; the sculpture Tid stands there now. To the north lies the old fishing village of Sævelandsvik around the sheltered harbour at Mannes, and to the west Åkrasanden, once named Norway's finest beach.

Grow up in Åkra and the map is familiar ground: the boats at Mannes, Åkra Park, the trees of Ola-skogen and the sand at Åkrasanden.