Having grown up on a farm, architect Margit-Kristine Solibakke Klev developed a love for greenhouses from a young age and has fond memories of harvesting homegrown produce with her grandmother to eat.

And so, when the Norwegian architect inherited her own piece of land, she decided to build her dream home – an enormous greenhouse homestead within which stands a large red-wood barn typical of the region.

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Set amid a thick spruce forest with a stream running by it, a natural lake, bathing pool, and a hydro-powered turbine (used by Margit-Kristine's father) it's hard to imagine a more idyllic location on which to build a property.

But while this magnificent house, located north of the town of Kongsberg, may be an architectural marvel to many, for Margit-Kristine, her husband Arnstein Norheim, and their children, first and foremost, it is a family home.

The unusual homestead really must seem like a dream come true for Margit-Kristine, who inherited a plot of land near the farm on which she grew up on, and spent years deciding what to do with it.

One day, Margit-Kristine and Arnstein came across a Swedish events space called Uppgrenna Naturhus, which had put a building within a greenhouse, and knew this was the inspirational idea they were waiting for.

It was a no-brainer really, as Margit-Kristine had found herself increasingly spending time in the greenhouse at her home in Oslo, and so she thought, why not combine the two?

And so she ordered a 38-foot-tall (12m), almost 4,000-square-foot (372sqm) glass greenhouse – a standard model from Danish company Drivadan – and set about constructing it.

When Margit-Kristine invited YouTube documentary maker Kirsten Dirksen into her home to look around the home she has created, you can almost hear Kirsten's jaw hit the ground as Margit-Kristine says it took them just two weeks to construct.

Kirsten was lucky enough to get a guided tour of the house within a greenhouse and to hear all about how the project has transformed the family’s lives.

After moving from Oslo, the young family stayed on Margit-Kristine's sister's farm during the main part of the build, but they were hands-on in the construction.

From laying cables to fitting the stylish pink kitchen cabinetry on the upper floor, the couple worked hard on adding personality to their all-season home.

The home features an expansive terrace beneath the greenhouse roof. Alongside a dining area, it boasts a contemporary four-poster bed, so they can drift off under the stars.

Below the terrace are the children's bedrooms, a family bathroom, and a dedicated office space. The level above houses the couple’s private suite, a guest bedroom, and a second living room.

The family’s relocation to this spectacular homestead seems to have been wholly positive.

They have both an indoor and outdoor garden, meaning they can grow all the fruit and vegetables they need. They have livestock to look after and yet they still have a thoroughly modern house that is two-storeys high and as wide as any normal house built for the outside would be.

Inside the greenhouse, the family grows fruit and vegetables, including figs, grapes, citrus fruits, cherries, plums, and more.

Margit-Kristine says her main motive for building the house was to provide food for the family, even during the harsh Norwegian winters, and with this innovative idea, she has succeeded. They can now enjoy farm-to-table cooking whenever they want.

Those harsh Norwegian winters are no joke. “This winter we had maybe a metre and a half of snow," Margit-Kristine told Kirsten.

The greenhouse is very strong, she says, supported by a steel structure, so it can withstand the snow. And, Margit-Kristine says, when the sun comes the snow just slides off, even if it's very cold outside.

Though there are planning zones in Norway, Margit-Kristine says that they are very flexible and she had no problem at all getting her plans approved, largely because there is no one else here.

"There are no neighbours here and no one to complain," she says, "it would be difficult if you were in the city or a more urban area."

However, that's not the only reason approval was so straightforward: Margit-Kristine's aesthetic for the house within is very in keeping with the surroundings.

It features the same red Norwegian wood as other homes in the area; the difference is that, with the addition of the greenhouse, her family's home is significantly larger than most.

It's clear when you look inside this beautiful home that the lines between where the main house begins and where it ends are blurred. 

There are all the comforts of a family home, including a beautiful open-plan kitchen/diner and a wall of bookshelves, but everything seems to have been designed in such a way as to be intrinsically entwined with nature.

When Margit-Kristine is cooking, she only has to step through the open doors from the kitchen to select ripe fruit or herbs to add to her dishes, resulting in some of the lowest food miles we've ever seen. 

Crucially, food items that wouldn't normally grow in Norway and would have to be imported from more tropical countries do very well here, reducing the family's carbon footprint massively.

In fact the growing conditions inside the greenhouse are so good that Margit-Kristine says that it's too warm for many of the plants native to Norway (which she grows outside instead).

Instead, the warmth inside is better suited to varieties that normally wouldn't grow in Norway, such as this lemon balm, which has lots of health benefits.

It's also remarkable how well all the trees and plants that do grow here have become established in a few short years, which demonstrates just what a wonderful environment for growing Margit-Kristine has created.

Indeed, she told Kirsten that everything grows so well she spends a lot of her time pruning.

With so much homegrown produce, Margit-Kristine lets nature take its course and composts everything on site. "For example when the leaves fall down in winter I just leave them on the ground," she says. The same applies for rotten fruit that can't be harvested.

Plus Margit-Kristine uses manure from the animals on her and her sister-in-law's land as fertiliser.

Winter in Norway can seem long, but on winter days with lows of -5°C (23°F) the temperature inside still reaches 20°C (68°F) Margit-Kristine says seeing the snow outside while there are leaves on the trees inside is quite magical.

In summer, when it feels too warm, the glass roof opens up to cool everyone down. This built-in temperature control means the children can play happily amid nature even in the depths of winter.

Margit-Kristine told Kirsten that one of the things she loves most about her house is that it is a house that adapts to the changing temperature outside. "The greenhouse is a very special place and it changes a lot throughout the year," she says.

And while her ambition to be able to grow enough fruit and vegetables to sustain them year-round has not been achieved yet, it soon will be. "We don't need to go to the shops, we have everything here," she told Kirsten.

And while the greenhouse itself has been built with integrity to withstand everything a Norwegian winter can throw at it, this considered construction continues inside.

The concert floor, for instance, is covered with micro cement so that it is strong enough for Margit-Kristine's daughter to ride her horse on it, which evidently she seems to do frequently.

As well as cutting down on food costs, the family has drastically reduced heating costs as the home is nicely insulated, plus with windows all built into the north and west side of the house, which is a little cooler, windows can be open in summer and there is no need for costly air conditioning.

As well as growing food, the family are also rearing their own sheep.

"We have food like everywhere and it's important to me that the kids are a part of it and that they understand the work that needs to be done to get the food," she told Kirsten.

With nature all around them, you can see more of the family's idyllic life on their homestead on Margit-Kristine's Instagram.

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