Nyvallens Fäbod vid Sonfjället

Welcome to Nyvallen Mountain Pasture

Our traditional pasture cabins “Nyvallens Fäbod” are located right at the foot of Mount Sonfjället, just a 300‑metre walk from Sonfjället National Park.

There’s something for everyone here – groups, school classes, families, and individual travellers. As an nature based experience stay, we offer our guests accommodation far beyond the ordinary. You’ll stay in the cottage “Kvarnstugan”, a traditional mountain‑pasture cabin furnished in 1960s style, with three beds, an open fireplace and basic kitchen equipment. A slightly larger option is “Fjällnära”, a cabin with four beds, a wood‑burning stove and kitchen equipment from the 1990s.

Cooking is done on a gas stove or wood‑fired stove. Cold water is available indoors, but it needs to be heated on the stove. There is no electricity, shower or toilet in the cabins, but we provide solar panels and candles for light on late autumn evenings. In summer, it is bright almost around the clock.

You wash yourself with a cloth and a basin. Another option is to visit the campsite in Hedeviken and rent a shower. It is 19 km by car or bicycle from the pasture to the campsite. The toilet is a dry toilet in a separate small building a short distance from the cabins, with a wonderful view of the mountain and the pasture. Water, soap and hand sanitiser are provided.

Life at Nyvallen

As soon as the snow melts and the grass turns green at Nyvallen, we move with the animals from our farm in Hedeviken up to the mountain pasture. We live here until the grass withers and moose hunting begins in September.

During summer, the cows graze freely on the slopes of Sonfjället all day and return home in the evening. The animals sleep close to the cabins and outside the fenced area. This is what free‑range grazing in forest and mountain terrain means: they roam freely and feed on the vegetation of the nature reserve and the national park.

The surrounding wilderness is home to bear, wolverine, lynx, Siberian jay, golden eagle, falcon, raven, reindeer, moose and roe deer. Where the mountain cows graze, a living ecosystem thrives – from insects to livestock and wild animals. The harmony between species creates the rich birdlife around the pasture. Even the goldcrest, Sweden’s smallest bird, nests here thanks to the abundance of insects.

The mountain cow contributes to biodiversity through its grazing on herbs, grasses and leaves. Sadly, it is a breed with very few individuals left. We are members of the Swedish Mountain Cattle Association, which works to preserve the breed. Our goats are of the Jämtland breed and originate from a farm in Jämtland County.

We are committed to preserving the ecosystem – from insects to large animals – to ensure that this biologically rich nature reserve is maintained culturally and ecologically for the future, in harmony with modern pasture farming where the focus lies on caring for the land. Society once functioned very differently, and today one must appreciate a white silage bale just as much as a traditional hayrack. It is the nutritional value of the feed and the grazing that shapes the flavour of pasture‑raised meat as well as traditional fäbod cheese.

Pasture‑raised meat and fäbod cheese are by‑products of running a grazing‑based farm in modern times, with livestock adapted to this landscape.