Karen Koren: No way to enjoy Norway in summer

I’M having my annual holiday before the onslaught of the Festival. Every year I go to my lovely log cabin in Norway for a peaceful break with friends and family.

It is the quality time I crave all year - wonderful. Except this year, of course, like most of northern Europe, it has decided that the temperature will not go above 16 degrees and it will be the wettest June/July for years.

I have already slipped and fallen on my bum in the rain, snapping my umbrella and cussing a lot in the process.

Lying in the muck trying to get back on my feet was not quite the start to my holiday I was dreaming of. The best thing has been hiding indoors with a blazing log fire, a good book and a jigsaw.

It’s hard, though, to be away without thinking about what is going on at the Gilded Balloon, and how Fringe preparations are going - I’m trying my utmost not to call.

That’s all well and good if you happen to be away from it all enjoying the peace and quiet while topping up the tan. However, when the weather is dull and it is raining all the time, the temptation is pretty fierce to pick up the phone or go on the internet.

So far I have resisted, but in the next day or so I fear I will be calling to discover what the latest news is.

There is a small summer festival in Lillesand, the closest town to where my cottage is, and they have open air concerts and dances all this week.

I’m very tempted to give them a hand, though there is a charm about their festival that I could not improve upon.

They even have the longest breakfast table in Europe, if you believe the publicity.

Despite the weather, Norway is a wonderful place - clean, fresh... and did I say it was cold at the moment?