Every design for Ytre Enebakk

Ytre Enebakk was once Ytterbygda, the outer quarter of a municipality divided into four fjerdinger, and for generations it lived from its sawmills and its forests. Traces of that industry still lie along the Tangenelva, the river that runs between the lakes Våg and Mjær, where the local history society keeps the riverside cultural trail in good order.

The village sits in Follo, south-west of the municipal centre at Kirkebygda and east of Ski, surrounded by low wooded hills and a scatter of small lakes and tarns such as Høltjernet. Langen, Våg and Mjær belong to the Morsa watercourse, whose water eventually reaches Vansjø in Østfold; they hold pike, perch and trout, and invite long, quiet canoe trips. Vikstranda, the bathing place at Våg, is laid out so that wheelchair users can reach the water. The forest runs on into Østmarka, with a floodlit ski trail, the Østbybakken jump and a golf course, and Mari kirke, the eighteenth-century church, stands here too.

Most people commute to Oslo or Ski, and the population is one of the youngest in the country. But the evenings belong to the lakes and the forest, and coming home means trading the commuter road for a quiet shore.