OUR
COMPANY:
Name:
Gestahus cottages.is ehf 650601 2460
Address: Kaldbakur, 640 Husavik, ICELAND
Tel : + (354) -464 1504 and -892 1744 and -862 1504
Fax: + (354) -464 1503
Email: cottages@cottages.is
Sigurjon &
Snaedis
OUR
GOAL:
The
peacefulness and beauty of the nature surrounding
Kaldbakskot,
elevated with fresh air from the ocean, is unique, still only one
kilometer away from urban Husavik town. Therefore our goal is to
provide our guests with environmentally friendly cottages.
Procedures
are to clean and wash with fragrance free detergents and earth friendly
chemicals. This is to suit people who suffer from allergies,
respiratory problems or chemical sensitivity. Our ambition is to keep
the indoor air in our cottages free of fragrance, mold, chemicals,
smoking and solvents.
Chemicals and cleaning agents in our daily live, can be hazardous to
our health and often is the cause of symptoms such as headaches,
restless sleep, muscular pain, fatigue..etc.
This
is how we do it:
The
houses are all natural solid wood from Estonia where forestry is under
control, supervised and certificated by EEC. They are built
with
natural, solvent free, and non-toxic building materials , with minimal
negative human impact.
The
downies and pillows are washed frequently at 60°C.
The
linens are synthetic to minimize the growth of mold, mildew, dust mite,
bacteria and viruses.
The
floor has no carpet, only small “cozy mats” which
are machine washed frequently.
Since
we at Kaldbakskot realize that "clean" does not have a "scent" we only
use fragrance free chemicals.
When
you enter our houses you might smell the sulfur from our hot water
which we used to clean your house.
We
try our best to keep our houses allergen-free to suit people
with allergy and asthma.
We
use
bromide to keep the two jacuzzi hot spas clean and clear, but
the
wooden hot tub has constantly natural geothermal hot water running into
it and that keeps it clean. The temperature of the hot tub varies
between 36°- 41° C but the hot spas should stay at
40°C.
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OUR HISTORY
It
was the year 1977. Sadat met Begin in Israel. The
first
personal computer, "Commodore PET", was demonstrated in
Chicago. Jimmy Carter became president in
the
USA. Deng Xiaopeng was restored to power in
China.
Elizabeth II celebrated her silver jubilee as queen and Led
Zeppelin's last concert tour in USA.
This is
the year when we graduated from the Univeristy of
Iceland, Snædís, as a
lawyer, and her
husband Sigurjon, as a dentist. We were under the influence
of the
hippie culture, characterized by peace, concern for the
environment, and rejection of Western materialism,
and the
dream was to move away from the capital, Reykjavik.
We
heard that there was a shortage of dentists in the small town
Husavik in North Iceland. So in August we packed all our
household things and our three years old daughter in our
Willys
Jeep and started our journey to Husavik. Sigurjon
worked
as the local dentist and Snaedis as a lawyer at the sheriffs
office. We discovered an abandoned farm Kaldbakur,
south of
Husavik, fell in love with the place and bought it.
The
land surrounding the farm was very poorly vegetated and
eroded,
due to overgrazing for decades, but the view was
unbeatable. Our first work was to put up fence all
around
the farm to keep the sheep away and plant trees.
After a
hard work for 25 years the surroundings have changed
dramatically.
In
the year 2000 we met some Estonian musicians, that
worked
here in Iceland. They were surprised that no log houses were
to
be seen in the country. We ordered some log houses with the intention
of selling them, but the market was not interested.
At the same time Sigurjon was on the
community counsil
of Husavik and made a proposal that the area around the lakes
at
Kaldbakur would be designed for summerhouses. That idea was
rejected, so we asked ourselves: Why always tell people about
good ideas and expect them to carry them out? Why not do
it ourselves?
And we did - and now
there are eighteen small cottages on the farmland.
Snaedis
is now running the accommodation business after quitting at the
sheriffs office in 2002. Her husband Sigurjon is
still one
of the local dentists, but in the summer he has the
status
and title of a bell-boy in the company. The
cottages need a
lot of attention, for example they must be oiled once or
twice a
year and during winter freezing is always the problem.
In
order to keep the houses mold-free and comfortable theyr
temperature is minimum 15°C during the
winter months!
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