OSLO’S HUT ISLANDS

Hutters in Norway got a helping hand from the Norwegian government in 1922, when it gave people camping on islands near Oslo the chance to turn tents into huts at very low rents. This was the state’s response to ‘dirty camping’ on picturesque islands; hygiene problems were inevitable without a public water supply or toilet facilities. Sailing past to their own holiday homes, wealthy residents were appalled by what they saw on Lindøya, and piled on pressure for eviction. But enlightened civil servants guessed the squalor would end if poor families from Oslo’s east end had better facilities and a stake in the island’s future. A century later, they’ve been proved right. Lindøya huts sell for up to £500,000, but few change hands. Why? What price would you put on your own bit of paradise, 10 minutes’ ferry ride from central Oslo?