dagen haus

"Dagen Haus" means "house in Hiiumaa". What we do and how we work can be read on this website and seen in Hiiumaa. Here I would like to explain WHY we do what we do. For this I must tell you two stories.

I was 25 years old when I first drove through central Hiiumaa to Kõpu to visit my girlfriend. As I was afraid not to be able to find the right way, I took some maps with me and followed the instructions I was given. I had lived in Hiiumaa all my life but I had been to Kõpu only a few times. After the winter I started going there more and more often. As well as other places in Hiiumaa… Half a year later, I came to a surprising realisation: "Hiiumaa contains within itself another Hiiumaa which is much bigger than the outer one!" Many visitors who come here for a day hold an opinion that "Hiiumaa is so small". “We arrive in Hiiumaa in the morning, visit Suuremõisa castle, Pühalepa church, have a lunch in Kärdla. Then straight on to Kõpu (no time for Tahkuna or Reigi church, but Estonia is filled with former military sites and churches). We see a famous lighthouse in Kõpu, then make a brief stop at the seaside at Ristna, go to Kassari and the day is over… and we have explored the wholeisland". The Hiiumaa I have discovered for myself boasts a coastline of 325 km (the same distance as between Tallinn and Narva-Jõesuu). Hiiumaa has a long history of settlement that goes back 6,000 years. The island has a most diverse range of beaches and forests, places that are completely untouched by man. There are about 200 villages in Hiiumaa, some of which consist of only a few farmhouses… but every place, even the smallest, has its own history and people with different destinies. There used to be 26 manor houses in Hiiumaa, each of them having their own buildings and landlords: There used to be more than a few dozen ports in Hiiumaa.

The other story is about how I used to hang out in the grain dryer of an old manor house. I just liked the building and the place. It had a kind of beauty and charm that cannot be put into words. Years later, I bought it and began to restore it. The memory of hanging out there and restoration of the old building instilled a dream in me to build beautiful houses. To me, beauty is not about size or splendour. More likely, it is to be found in old and worn things; it has to do with simplicity and authenticity. Even less do I expect everyone else to consider my houses beautiful…

It was these stories and a number of coincidences that prompted the creation of our family business Dagen Haus. We offer a wide choice of locations and houses for your holiday in Hiiumaa, each of them built out of the desire to create something simply beautiful.