History
1885
Deep in Norðurárdalur valley in Western Iceland, Friðrik Jónsson was herding sheep along the Norðurá river. Then a teenager, he rode on horseback and stopped on a ledge overlooking Laxfoss waterfall (en. Salmon falls) to admire the view. There, swarms of fish rested as they were unable to migrate any further up river for spawning, making the place ideal to catch Atlantic Salmon. He felt an instant connection to the place and for a good reason.
Friðrik Jónsson
1900
Fifteen years later Friðrik was an established businessman in Iceland‘s capital, Reykjavík. He had acquired the Laxfoss estate and with his new fortune he bought four other farms in Norðurá-valley. He started fishing there during his summers while staying in a tent by the ledge of the waterfall. He then proceeded to build two houses on the estate, first he built a fishing cabin in 1907 sitting on a ledge by the river which served as Norðurá‘s first fishing cabin. Friðrik then banned net-fishing in the river and cleaned the area of debris. The second house he built in 1920 serving as a summer retreat for his family and friends.
Photograph from around 1930 - the fishing cabin on the right and the summer retreat on the left
Friðrik's son, Sturla, in his teenage years at Laxfoss
1910-1930
As Norðurá‘s reputation as a world class fly-fishing river grew, foreigners started renting the cabin while fishing in the river during summer. Englishmen were the first to arrive and spend their summers there but in the autumn of 1925 two captains from the British army, Geoffrey Aspinall and Malcolm A. Kennard, came to see if the place lived up to its reputation. They ended up spending ten consecutive summers there and Capt. Kennard‘s and Aspinal‘s rooms in the cabin still stand as they were during that time.
1930
In 1930 when Iceland was still a personal union with Denmark, King of Denmark and Iceland Christian X came to Iceland with his family. A testiment to the reputation of the place, they stayed in Laxfoss for a few days while fishing the waterfall below. There are named fishing spots directly below the house that refer to catches by the royals, namely Drottningarhylur (Queens grounds) and Konungsstrengur (The King‘s string).
Since then the house has grown with time and was recently renovated by the current owners to reflect the history of the house – mixing the old with new.
Laxfoss is an extraordinary and historic place. Thanks to it's exclusivity sitting on large private land, guests can expect the highest level of confidentiality while staying there and the same is expected of the guests themselves if there were to be any distinguishable faces fishing the river below during the stay.