The Lake House, Finland

17:54 Melissa G 0 Comments


The most authentic and traditional experience you could have in Finland is spending the summer in your "mökki", or lake house.



You find yourself in the middle of a forest, surrounded by tall birch trees and the calming lull of the water. Often your closest neighbours are a kilometre away, after all us Finns love our privacy and alone time. Its the best way to completely disconnect from the outside world and just appreciate the environment around you.


The house we rent, originally owned by my Mother's cousin, is by Jääsjärvi; Finland's largest lake at 81km². Its situated in Central Finland in the Hartola region, 182km away from Helsinki. The lake holds many islands of varying sizes, if you're feeling adventurous you can always go explore them!




It is important to note that the government is highly protective of Finland's environment, there is great emphasis on protecting and conserving the flora and fauna but also on cleaning up polluted areas.

Forests are Finland's most valuable natural resource and are hence carefully managed. Bodies of water are sensitive to pollution but over 80% of Finland's lakes are of "excellent or good" water quality.

If you're a fan of nature, or want to take a break from city life, Finland is definitely the place to go.




The water temperature is around 20C, but honestly its nothing to be scared of, the trick is to just jump right in, plus there's always the sauna to get back to.




Or take the boat and go paddling.





You can always attempt fishing, however over the past three years we have probably caught two or three fish. Honestly we didn't try hard enough, and we probably scared them away by cannon balling into the lake. But you can always set up a net and wait for crayfish.





Having heard that blueberries were hiding in the bushes I couldn't resist venturing into the forest with my mother to pick anything we could find for a nice blueberry pie.





I think in the end I spent the entire time taking pictures while my mom was the only one actually working.






We often went on walks around the area and found a small farm as well as gorgeous views of the lake.






Here we were actually on a sand road connecting two islands.


I love to cook, so obviously my favourite part of it all is spending the evening barbecuing whatever I marinaded all day as everyone gathers around the table to eat and drink. 




Regardless of spending at least a week every summer at the lake house I'm still amazed at the sunsets. In the summer Finland has "the midnight sun", which basically means it doesn't get dark until very very very late. This creates exceptional sunsets, so hold on tight cause you're about to have a week's worth of sunsets. 


The sun going down doesn't stop us from dipping into the water, I might say it's even better when it gets dark. 



For all the lovers of pastel colours.



I personally love the times when the colours are so intense you're left speechless and question whether it can all be real. 



And another spectacular sunset.




If this isn't beautiful I honestly don't know what is. 










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