Christen Fretheim, reputed to be the richest man in Flåm, began hosting British sportsmen at his farm around 1870, after Lord Wigram leased the fishing rights to the Flåmselva river and word spread among English anglers about its salmon and trout. Fretheim built a Swiss-style house to formalize the arrangement, and locals took to calling it the English Villa for its steady stream of well-heeled visitors. His cousin Marthe joined to help manage the growing business around the turn of the century, as two farmhouses on the property were eventually joined into a single hotel.
Construction of the Bergen Railway between 1894 and 1909 brought new demand, with Fretheim running a horse-and-cart transport service up to the mountain station at Myrdal for travelers connecting from the fjord steamers. The hotel stayed in Fretheim family hands until 1979, briefly operated under the name Langseth Hotell, and underwent a major renovation completed in 2000 that added a glass-fronted wing connecting the historic rooms to 88 new ones.