The Agricultural Museum at Hvanneyri: Tractors, Turf and Wool

When the West Iceland weather turns and a driving day around Borgarfjörður loses its appeal, the university village of Hvanneyri makes an easy indoor outing. It sits about 10 minutes by car from the Hvítá Inn and holds the Agricultural Museum of Iceland (Landbúnaðarsafn Íslands), a wool workshop, and a small landmark church, all within a few steps of one another.

What the museum holds

The Agricultural Museum of Iceland is home to the country’s largest collection of farm machinery, with pieces dating back to around 1880. The displays trace how Icelandic farming shifted from horse-drawn equipment to mechanisation, and include some of the first tractors ever imported to Iceland. It’s a compact, unfussy collection, and it tells the story of how the country moved out of the turf-house era in a couple of generations. The museum shares the Hvanneyri campus with the Agricultural University of Iceland, so the setting is a working village of students and farms rather than a tourist stop.

Ullarselið and Hvanneyrarkirkja

A few steps away is Ullarselið, a wool centre run by people interested in traditional wool craft. It sells local yarn and handmade goods, much of it handspun by women from the Borgarnes area, using techniques of combing, spinning, knitting and weaving by hand. Opening times vary by season, so it’s worth checking before you go. Beside it stands Hvanneyrarkirkja, a small timber church built in 1905, which is the obvious visual landmark of the village and a quick photo stop on your way in or out.

Planning your visit

• Getting there: about a 10-minute drive from the Hvítá Inn; Hvanneyri is signposted off Route 1 north of Borgarnes.
• How long: allow roughly 1 to 2 hours for the museum, wool centre and church together.
• When to go: the museum is open daily 11:00–17:00 from about mid-May to mid-September; in winter it opens roughly Thursday to Saturday afternoons and otherwise on request, so call ahead off-season.
• What to bring: cash or card for the wool centre, and a waterproof layer, since walking between the buildings and to the church is outdoors.

Hvanneyri pairs well with a wider Borgarfjörður loop taking in Reykholt, Deildartunguhver and the Hraunfossar waterfalls, but on a wet morning it stands on its own as a dry, useful hour or two before lunch.

Where to Stay

The The Hvítá Inn sits on the bank of the Hvítá river at Hvítárbakki, about 75 minutes from Reykjavík and roughly 10 minutes from Hvanneyri, which makes the museum an easy first stop on a slow morning without a long drive. Rooms have private bathrooms and the location puts the whole Borgarfjörður circuit within reach. Book direct on Ourhotels.is for the best rate.

Photo: IngVar via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.