Why ebook?
Because it seems like a Terrence Malick dream sequence assembly tactile Scandinavian design on a tiny personal island that makes the true world appear completely distant. For the plant-based, seaweed ahead meals; for the sauna in a wartime electrical energy station on the sting of the land; for leaping straight out of the whimsical, high-design boat home into the North Sea. Because it’s bliss, and likewise as a result of it shines a highlight on the wild but progressive archipelago round Norway’s second metropolis of Bergen, which isn’t as well known because it deserves to be.
Set the scene
It’s an early July night, with the sky beginning to glow. Post-sauna, we stoop womb-like into the nice and cozy sizzling tub on the sting of the tiny island, eyes closing because the grasses sway, the North Sea rushes previous, and the neighbouring island of Ytstøyna is buffeted by ephemeral snarls of foamy white. The Hurtigruten ferry drifts by at a gentler tempo, slowly turning into a ghostly shadow on the horizon because it heads in direction of Bergen. Later, there are Fedje island gin and tonics by the firepit on the island’s highest level, then sluggish video games of Rummikub soundtracked by the digital chill of the Icelandic musician Olafur Arnalds. Co-host Antje De Vries works a type of uncommon alchemy on Hella Sopperi mushrooms on the Aga within the light-streaked kitchen, the place foraged seaweed dries on the partitions. We’ll fortunately eat and drink collectively, simply the three of us on the entire island, bathed in seemingly countless, subtly shifting comfortable mild.
The backstory
This is the fifth resort from the Lindenberg group, headed by the Frankfurt-based industrialist scion and investor Steen Rothenberger, who likes to stay within the background. The model already has two stays in Frankfurt and two in Bali, together with the cult Lost Lindenberg—a jungly paradise hidden behind a wall of neon indicators that put a hitherto unloved stretch of surf-caressed black sand in southern Bali on the journey map. Their stays all function plant-based meals, nice artwork and an embrace of offbeat creativity—and have made waves amongst those that know, regardless of a relative lack of PR. Lilløy is an outlier in some methods in that Rothenberger had no prior connection to the realm (whereas he’s been wintering in Bali for years). He merely fell for the 8.6-acre island of Midtøy, with its lovely conventional home that hadn’t been lived in since 1989. Alongside Lindenberg co-founder and managing director Denise Omurca and hospitality placemaker Nina Eschenröder, the staff introduced in Bergen designers Vera Kleppe and Åshild Kyte, aka Vera & Kyte. The duo have formed three quirky rooms in the principle home—all pure mild and tactile cool with a refined edge—and constructed a whimsical picket two-storey boathouse by the jetty, the place company can open the ceiling-height window by the piano and bounce straight into the North Sea. Having opened in spring 2025, artwork and design are central: suppose work from the Bergen artist/musician Axel Vindenes (companion of inside designer Kleppe); natural glass items by Bergen glassblower Sigrid Rostad; earthy-natural ceramics by the Dutch artist Joris-Jan Bos, together with an artefact-like piece on a low cork desk in the lounge. Many creatives have already come for residencies or mini tasks, together with the Berlin-based digital artist Dennis Rudolph, who created scenes of ethereal cyber creatures rising from serpentine dry stone sculptures that also sit outdoors.
The rooms
The island sleeps ten (unique buyouts are very a lot an choice), with three bedrooms in the principle home and one within the two-story boat home by the jetty. We sleep within the Master Bedroom—the traditional—all Scandi serenity with a walk-in wardrobe space hidden behind the fabulously comfortable mattress (with a mattress partially made with seaweed). The others are quirkier: the family-friendly Four Daughters room, primarily three rooms that sleep 4, with twin beds in the principle room and doubles in little snugs on both facet; and the Moon Room within the attic, which seems like a romantic cosy with low slanted ceilings (not one for six-footers like me). The two-story boat home, or Ocean Room, is probably essentially the most evocative and conducive to creativity, with a double room on the second flooring and a kitchenette on the primary, with a piano subsequent to ceiling-length home windows that open straight onto the ocean. Each room options unobtrusively cool artwork, like an oil summary by the Bergen artist Arvid J Petterson in ours. There are yellow-striped bathrobes by Stockholm-based, Barcelona-inspired model OAS; and merchandise by the Swedish pure skincare model La Bruket in natural styled loos. Glass jars of candies additionally function Dracula Fragola condoms, with the identical taste as an ice cream produced by Lindenberg and Frankfurt bakery/deli/bistro Leuchtendroter.
Food and drink
Everything is plant-based and, on our go to, cooked by co-host Antje De Vries, a life-loving Friesian power of nature, who in a short time seems like a buddy (although the staff can organise personal cooks or choose from an inventory of high Bergen-based cooks). That’s partly as a result of she’s heat and engaging: a meals scientist and nomadic chef whose peripatetic profession has included vegan cookbooks and work with female-focused NGOs from Hamburg to Sierra Leone, with a mission summed up by the title of her web site and Instagram deal with, Food and Joy. But it’s additionally due to what she serves up: a elegant miso soup with with seaweed dashi and mushrooms from close by growers Hella Sopperi; an epic taco unfold involving shiitake and oyster mushrooms as meat stand-ins; desserts like seaweed sea salt caramel with blueberry apple sorbet, and fabulous walnut muffins. Her huge ardour at Lilløy is her virtually each day dives to forage for the ample seaweed that surrounds the island: sugar kelp, sea oak that tastes like oysters, bacon-like sol dulse, uncommon pepper dulse that tastes of truffles. Most of her meals function seaweed someplace (a seaweed pesto is a favorite), and he or she hosts common Kelp Club dinners that showcase her philosophy. “I don’t really have to explain my mission here,” she says. “I get to live it. It’s like my playground, and I’ve become part of this cool little community—many of them women—who are obsessed with seaweed.”
The space
In some methods, who cares? The island is sufficient, with its vegetable patches and firepit sheltered by dry partitions on the island’s highest level; its rocky corners appropriate for leaps into the ocean that Antje has marked with little piles of stones. But there’s attention-grabbing historical past round. The space was an essential base for the Germans that occupied Norway throughout World War II, with the Luftwaffe opening an airbase at close by Herdla—and the neighboring island of Ytstøyna remains to be dotted with wartime bunkers. Further afield, it’s a stunning drive again to Bergen, and properly value taking a small detour to the family-run Bakstehuset bakery in little Ask, a bucolic spot recognized for its cinnamon buns with Hardanger apple, simply one in all an unlimited vary of baked goodies. The wider Bergen archipelago stays underrated, with 1000’s of mannequin railway-worthy little islands linked by ferries and clean roads—and the identical is likely to be mentioned about Norway’s wet second metropolis itself, with its proud historical past of music and tradition. Food-wise, De Vries’s ideas embody the terroir-worship set menus at Gaptrast, the extra relaxed female-run Lola Bistro and Moon, celebrating the native cooking of French brothers Jules and Nicola Selukov—with the reindeer hotdog on the Tekroneren stand additionally worthy of the persistent queues.
Wellness
In what was as soon as a wartime electrical station, the sauna on the sting of the island is a transcendent spot overlooking neighboring Ytstøyna and a delivery lane that typically contains large cruise vessels. Outside, there’s a heat sizzling tub constructed into the brick terrace. Rooms have yoga mats perfect for periods on the picket terrace outdoors the home, and the staff can organize personal yoga and meditation periods, in addition to massages utilizing pure merchandise. But, actually, simply being on the island seems like meditative wellness, together with taking a golf membership and a biodegradable ball from the island store and whacking it into the ocean.
The workers
As talked about, Antje seems like greater than a bunch. So too does her colleague Magnus Fauskanger Eidsaa, a Norwegian ex-carpenter who was engaged on the constructing when Rothberger was struck by his ardour for the island and supplied him the prospect to remain. Between them, they’ll facilitate absolutely anything, whether or not which means diving, snorkeling, bird-watching, sundown cruising of taking the boat to Herdla to study its wartime historical past.
Who comes right here?
Many of the aforementioned artists have stayed, and one thing concerning the island induces curious tasks. As properly as Dennis Rudolph’s digital artwork undertaking, Sandrayati, the spouse of Olafur Arnalds, got here with the Bergen producer/songwriter Askjell and Hamburg producer Farhot to do breathwork periods in between recording sea sounds and writing music; and the Frankfurt-based Greek photographer Maria Poursanidou shot a mannequin wrapped in bathroom roll as a part of a surreal sequence of photographs. But it’s not too for varsity, and actually…
For households
For all of the artiness, it’s additionally extremely welcoming to households. On the second night time of our go to, we had been joined by a Swedish household with three superbly behaved kids, who spent their time on kayak journeys or doing litter picks across the island. Antje is an professional at creating treasure hunts, cooking for kids and usually making issues enjoyable. As properly because the jars of sweets, she additionally has a “secret” jar of selfmade cookies within the kitchen.
Eco effort
The development staff prioritised repurposed supplies within the constructing itself. Plastics and leathers are virtually completely absent (tub merchandise in recycled bottles, espresso in multi-use containers and many others), and even the mattresses are eco-forward, that includes seaweed and pure supplies like coconut fibre, by Greek model Coco-mat. Led by Antje, the plant-based meals is as native as doable, with the island offering the seaweed and a few greens, herbs and berries. The relaxation comes from vetted native suppliers just like the aforementioned mushroom growers Hella Sopperri or Lystgården, a sustainable city backyard in Bergen.
Accessibility
Hmmm, it’s not so nice for any kinds of bodily incapacity, given the dry-stone path as much as the home may be wobbly (apparently there are plans to make it firmer) and the home is filled with nooks and crannies. The fabulous hosts will do no matter they’ll, however Lilløy may be very a lot constructed across the current contours of the island and the home.
Anything else to say?
The ethos of the entire place may be present in microcosm within the dry-stone, turf-roofed island store, the place islanders may buy OAS bucket hats and swim shorts, Sigrid Rostad vases and La Bruket magnificence merchandise. There’s additionally an entire deli’s value of edible goodies, from Harding cider made with Hardanger apples to artisan candies from bean-to-bar Bergen chocolatier Fjåk and little jars of pickles and ferments marked with “Greetings from Antje” stickers. The store isn’t staffed, so company simply mark in pencil what they’ve taken.
Is it value it? Jadaa! because the Norwegians may say. It’s uncommon to search out someplace that feels a lot like a deep-nature reverie, but in addition this progressively cool. Pairing it with further archipelago adventures and a visit to Bergen makes for a civilized journey that also feels contemporary and comparatively untrodden.