Time municipality is located in central Jæren in the County of Rogaland, extending over 183,4 km2. Without a coastline, it is an entirely inland community. The landscape varies from the typical flat Jæren vistas to hilly terrain towards the municipality’s eastern borders. Time has population of approximately 17.000 inhabitants, 75% of whom reside in urban areas.
Agriculture, which used to be the mainstay, now employs no more than 16% of the work force. The rest work in industry, construction, commerce and service industries. The municipality’s administrative centre is at Bryne, which has a population of about 6.100.
The township/municipality has a good location, close to Sola airport, and to a large variety of recreational activities, among them swimming along the Jæren beaches, hiking in woods and fields, and skiing in the surrounding hills. In addition, the municipality has a rich cultural life with emphasis on music and athletics, as well as plenty of clubs and associations.
Bryne has a number of industries, a good variety of commerce and service industries, which are in steady expansion. Further, Bryne is a centre for tertiary education; two schools catering to about a thousand students each, offer a variety of lines. Other urban areas are Kverneland with about 1.800 inhabitants, Lyefjell with 1.400 and Undheim centre with about 500 inhabitants. Football has contributed to making Bryne a household name throughout the country.
THE GARBORG HOME
The Garborg Home is the childhood home of Norwegian national writer Aadne – later Arne Garborg (1851-1924). The house was built in 1848 by Garborg’s parents Ane Oline and Eivind. The house and farm were in the family until 1869, when it was sold to a neighbour. It became the property of Time community in 1940. People were living in the house until 1947. At the centennial for the writer in 1951 it became a museum.
The Garborg Home is a well preserved Jærhouse, and with its furnishings and interior from the 1850ies it renders a good picture of the writer’s cultural and social background. A few pieces are authentic of the house, the blue chest, a shelf and a candle holder; whereas most pieces are authentic of the period. The house is the stage in several of the writer’s works, among them his major work Peace from 1892, a towering novel of European standing to this day. The protected property is by the RV 505 (Bryne – Varhaug) at Garborg, 8 km from Bryne. The Garborg Home is open Sundays and public holidays 12-17, Easter to the end of September. Open every day in tourist season 12-17, in July and half of August.
KNUDAHEIO
Knudaheio is national writer Arne Garborg’s summer house at his ancestral Jæren, built in 1899. He came here for the first time in May 1899, and visited the place almost every year for shorter or longer periods until 1923. The place has given name to his biographical work Knudaheibrev, The Knudahei Letters, from 1904; by many considered the final work from the writer’s pen. The house is like it was when he lived here. Furniture and interior are authentic, and the exterior is as it was in 1909, when the house was renovated by the writer.
Until that time the house had had a turf roof and the walls had been clad with straw. In the house are exhibits of most of the pictures taken by Garborg in and outside the house, his furniture and some of his belongings, together with copies of first editions of most of his books. Hulda and Arne Garborg are interred in the mound in the garden (1925 and 1935).
Above the parking lot at Knudaheio are two new attractions from the great Garborg Year 2001: The stone face All this beautiful view, and the cairn If everone takes his stone. They may be enjoyed together with the magnificent view of the land the writer loved so much: Jæren (from Old Norse Jadar: Egde of the land). Knudaheio is on FV 201 above Undheim, 13 km from Bryne on RV 505. Knudaheio is open Sundays and public holidays 12-17, Easter to the end of September. Open every day in tourist season 12-17, July and half of August.
FOTLAND MILL
Fotland mill is by the Fotland waterfall in the crossing RV 206 / RV 210, off RV 505, approximately 6 km from Bryne. The mill was erected in 1845 as an industrial mill, in a place where milling had been common since the 1200s, and where commercial milling had taken place since the 1600s. The mill was placed above two existing farm mills, a new canal for the intake of water was made, and the water was thus used three times in a row before it went back into the Hå River. One of Jæren’s first industrial smithies was established in the basement of the mill. The mill was active until 1968, when the large combines came, making the capacity of the mill too small. In 1972 the mill was given to Time community bythe Fotland family, who had been millers there for several generations.
In 1995 the mill was reopened as a milling museum and place for art and craft exhibitions and arrangements of different sorts. Permanent exhibit: Corn gave life. Video showing milling process in the 1960ies. Changing art exhibitions from Easter to end of October.
FOTLAND POWER PLANT
The power plant at Fotland, across the river from the mill, was opened in 1915. It promised Time community, its owner, adequate supply of electricity “in all foreseeable future”. After three years the all foreseeable ended, and demand exceeded supply. The plant was active until 1972, when one of the turbines broke down. Soon after the plant was shut down. Annual production in the last active year covered only 2% of Time community’s total consumption! Technical Museum for Time from 1977. Water Power Museum for Jæren from 1991. In addition to an intact interior and exterior, the plant houses an exhibition of pictures and things from the construction period, and on the first floor is an exhibition of pictures and old artefacts from Time in the old days.
The plant is open Sundays and public holidays May to the end of September 13-17. The plant is 5 km from Bryne, on FV 206. Mediations and visits may be ordered all year for a special fee.
TIME RURAL MUSEUM
Time Rural Museum is situated at Undheim, in the middle of the Jærish countryside, app. 12 km from Bryne on RV 505. The rooms are on the first and second floors of the Undheim Community Building. The museum is organised in boots looking like the rooms of the home, containing furniture, inventory, tools etc. that would be found in each particular room. There is also an old shop interior, a shoemaker´s, and an old school room. On the second floor are larger farm tools and different carts. As the name depicts, most of the exhibits are from rural life and living in the old times. The museum rooms are open some Sundays from May till the end of August, 13-17. Mediations and visits may be ordered all year for a special fee.
TRÆE
The name Træe comes from tread, meaning also place to tread, and is an old cotter’s place from app. 1780. It was in use till around 1910, then as a pensioner’s home. The place was given to Time community in 1951. It was restored in 1997, and is today very close to the original. Træe is a Jærhouse, the tiny living room is cogged and is the only wooden room in the house; the kitchen has a sod floor and an open crate, from which is an opening through the wall into the living room stove. The roof has handmade tiles.
Due to scarce local supply of wood, traditional Jærhouses had little wooden panels. It was mostly stone and some very rough panels, and turf on the roofs. The hay room in the end of the house has a primitive wood construction dating back to the Iron Age. The cow shed is built into the ground, and housed two cows. The cotter system had different dimensions at Jæren than in the rest of Norway. In 1875 we had 54 cotters in Time, in 1920 only 3. Træe is close by RV 44 south of Bryne, and is said to be the most photographed and painted house in the Jæren region. The place is open to the public on Sundays in July, 13-17. Mediations and visits may be ordered all year for a special fee.
JÆREN
Jæren is the largest flat lowland area in Norway, stretching from the municipality of Randaberg in the north to Hå in the south. The coast is flat compared to the rest of the Norwegian coast, and has sandy beaches along most of the coastline. The largest city of Jæren are Stavanger and Sandnes.
The petroleum industry around Stavanger is an important part of economy of Jæren, with the headquarters of the country´s largest oil company Statoil being located on Jæren, as well regional offices of international companies like ExxonMobil, Eni, Shell, ConocoPhilips, BP, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes and several others.
Jæren is also one of the most important agricultural areas of Norway, with a long crop period and a varied and well-developed livestock production. Industry here is also strongly connected to the farming industry, with one of the largest producers of agricultural machines in the world, Kverneland Group, located in Time and Klepp.
Author and poet Arne Garborg grew up in the traditional lowland landscape of Jæren, and in several of his works he describes the landscape and its inhabitants around the turn of the 19th century.
GOLF
Jæren Golfclub is a golf course with 9 holes and a variation of difficulties. The course lies at Grødem, approximately 4 km south of Bryne center.