  We have monitored 20 Sun-like stars in the Kepler field-of-view for excess
flux with the FIES spectrograph on the Nordic Optical Telescope since the
launch of Kepler spacecraft in 2009. These 20 stars were selected based on
their asteroseismic properties to sample the parameter space (effective
temperature, surface gravity, activity level etc.) around the Sun. Though the
ultimate goal is to improve stellar dynamo models, we focus the present paper
on the combination of space-based and ground-based observations can be used to
test the age-rotation-activity relations.
  In this paper we describe the considerations behind the selection of these 20
Sun-like stars and present an initial asteroseismic analysis, which includes
stellar age estimates. We also describe the observations from the Nordic
Optical Telescope and present mean values of measured excess fluxes. These
measurements are combined with estimates of the rotation periods obtained from
a simple analysis of the modulation in photometric observations from Kepler
caused by starspots, and asteroseismic determinations of stellar ages, to test
relations between between age, rotation and activity.

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics