The house was built by the richest man in the village. It was completed in 1759 and is considered the new house. Tomorrow for breakfast you will eat in the old part, which dates from 1674.
The couple who built the house were childless and when she, Kristin Kongstun, became a widow, it was sold to Jaunsen, who came here from Estonia via the Hanseatic League. He had worked for the couple and was thus allowed to buy it.
Until 1925 it was used as a hotel/shipping station. Then it was outcompeted by the new hotel, Melands hotell. It was located where the nursing home is today, the big yellow house on the way down to the fjord.
Then we jump forward to 1985, the dark year in Granvin's history. The village has about 1,000 inhabitants, and was the gateway to Hardanger, this is where the ferry came in, and this is where there was a siding from Bergensbane, an electric train that ran from Voss down to Granvinsfjorden.
In 1985, the ferry stopped arriving, the train was canceled, and the hotel, Melands hotel, burned down.
All the cafés and shops by the fjord closed down. It was a dark, sad time in Granvin.
After three years, two ladies decided that something had to be done. They got forty people to contribute NOK 1,000 each and thus bought Jaunsenhuset and the courthouse. The reception area was built, and the whole village contributed with volunteer work. After two years they opened up.
Then the hotel was run on a voluntary basis for ten years, rented out to people who ran it. This was not a financial success. The bank said it had to be sold to someone who wanted to run it. Jaunsen was then sold to Kåre Lie, who was a driving force. He also built the pub, which is at the end of the courthouse, that is, out and to the left. During the summer season, the pub is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 20-24.
In 2015, Kåre Lie was tired and put Jaunsen Gjestgjevarstad up for sale. No one wanted to buy it, it was on the market for over a year, and the price was reduced little by little.
The new owner, Eli Stangeland, was in Stavanger when she found Jaunsen on Finn.no. She then made an appointment to come and look at the hotel. On a Saturday morning in early November 2016, she came, stayed for four hours and bought it there and then.
She came to Granvin in January 2017, and has run Jaunsen ever since. Her signature dish is the bread, which has unofficially been named Norway's best hotel bread.
