You can also find out more about the following:It’s 10pm, and the sky is still a bright blue. While sitting by the Baltic Sea and dipping my toes into the water, i gaze at the distant, tree-covered isles as the gentle waves lap on the long, flat rock. I walk a rough and winding trail back to my cabin. The woods are so quiet that you can hear pine needles falling.
On the trail of Finnish novelist, artist, and illustrator, I’m in Santalahti Woods near Kotka, on the south-east coastline of Finland. Tove Jansson (1914-2001). Jansson is best known as the creator of Moomins. She also wrote novels for adults. In the last year, Jansson published her first novel. The Summer BookCharlie McDowell directed the film, which starred Glenn Close. A film critic called it “an ode of Finnish archipelago natural beauty”.
The Summer Book is a series of 22 vignettes on island summer living, featuring a young girl, Sophia, and her grandmother. I first read the slim volume in the early days of the Covid lockdown.
It has always been a soothing read, a reminder of how important it is to slow down and be present. I came to Finland to experience summer in Finland, breathe the archipelago’s air, and find some of the wonder and stillness that Jansson’s work gives me.
Finland’s summer is a time to enjoy. The south of the country receives just six hours of daylight a day in winter, and in the far north the sun remains below the horizon in December. Finns love and cherish summer because of the darkness. Schoolchildren get a 10-week summer holiday, and most Finns take July off work. The majority of summer is spent in the half-million summer cottages known as mökki, usually by a lake or on one of the tens of thousands of islands scattered along the coastline.
The amenities vary, but traditional rustic cabins are a favorite: they’re off-grid and without electricity, running water or wifi. Cottage living is a popular choice. mökkielämäThe focus of the program is on living slowly in harmony with the natural world: spending time in the forest, at the sea, picking up berries and relaxing in a sauna.
The journey begins in Pellinki. It is located on the Porvoo island archipelago. This is about an hours drive east of Helsinki. This part of Finland is bilingual. This is the case for 80% Pellinki residents. Tove Jansson was a Swedish speaker; in Swedish the island is called Pellinge). It’s a quick hop across the water on a free ferry into a different, slower pace of life. Through the woods I spy dozens of cute red and yellow painted cabins, each by a stretch of water.
Tove spent many childhood summers on Pellinki, and she drew her first Moomin cartoon here – on the wall of an outhouse – as a teenager. Families on the island would rent out their houses for the summer and move into an outbuilding to generate additional income. Tove and her family rented a home from the boat-building Gustafsson’s. Abbe, Tove’s same-age friend, became their lifelong companion. They turned the daily task of collecting milk into a complex challenge. There were trees that had to be navigated one way, streams they had to jump over, and “evil cracked” rocks that the children needed to sprint past.
The Book about Moomin Mymble Little My, a classic childhood game that has been adapted to a new outdoor puzzle game, was inspired by the original. Island Riddles trail. The clues are rhymed, and I test them out, searching for a red umbrella among the trees and filtering water in a well to bring the next clue to the surface. Erika Englund told me that you just need to use your imagination and play like a kid.
From the woods you can see the small island of Bredskär, where the Jansson family built a house in 1947. Craving further solitude, Tove built a cabin on the even tinier island of Klovharun in 1964, where she spent 28 summers with her life partner, graphic artist Tuulikki Pietilä. Here, the couple led a simple existence, with only each other and their imaginations as company.
The landscapes of Pellinki, Bredskär and Klovharun are easily recognisable throughout Tove’s work in all mediums. The sea and weather are central to Tove’s art: Storms rage in the ocean, things are lost and then found, and people live their lives with respect for nature.
Porvoo, the closest town to Pellinki, is a stopover on the way to archipelago. The old town of Porvoo is one the best preserved towns in Finland. It was constructed after a fire that occurred in 1760. I wander through the winding streets, admiring the colourful wooden homes and learning about the town’s history as a salt trading port, with Birgitta Palmqvist from Porvoo Tours.
The hotel is a beautiful art nouveau style Runo Hotel in the centre of town. This building was formerly a town library and a bank. It now houses 56 rooms in ‘finnish-style minimalism,’ with changing art displays, as well as an award-winning, minimalist breakfast.
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I visited the suburbs of Porvoo Kannonnokka, where a sauna has been partly built into rock deep in the woods. Sauna culture is essential to Finns: in 2020, Unesco recognised Finnish sauna culture as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and there are an estimated 3.3 million saunas in a country of 5.6 million people (though everyone I speak to gives a higher number). Even in the tiny cabin on Klovharun there was a sauna in the cellar (more important than running water). The Kannonnokka Sauna is maintained at 60C to allow for long, relaxed sessions. The young couple that runs the place cooks delicious pancakes on the fire.
Tove was a young painter who painted murals on buildings along the Finnish coastline. In Kotka (50 miles east of Porvoo), a large fairytale mural is on display at the youth work department. The mural is a joy, with hidden Moomins and gemstone embellishments.
Hamina is a nearby town where panoramic fantasy scenes are painted on the walls. Mermaids and cadets play under the sea, while shipwrecked treasures fill the harbour. In Kotka I visit the Maritime Centre Vellamo. Courage, Freedom, Love! A Moomin Adventure Launched this year to celebrate 80 years of publishing the first Moomin books, it runs until March 2027.
Children can play inside a replica Moomin house, clamber on the rocks surrounded by an animated sea, and dress up in a little theatre. Also on display is Tove and Tuulikki’s boat, Victoria, built for the couple by Abbe Gustafsson.
I take the free ferry from Kotka to Kaunissaari in 90 minutes. The island’s name translates to “beautiful island” – fitting, given its pine forests, long white beaches and pretty marina. The harbour is made up of a cluster red wooden cottages, wildflower gardens with boat sheds and spooled fishingnets. The island museum is crammed with artifacts from the hardy lives of islanders over centuries. I follow winding paths through the trees to find a long, sandy beach, which I have all to myself. I can’t resist a swim – even without a sauna to plunge into. I warm up in the Kaunissaaren maja restaurant where they serve a simple recipe for salmon soup that hasn’t changed since 1970.
My own summer cottage is located near Kotka. The amenities are basic: a kitchen diner and one bedroom, but of course a sauna. I set it to heat then spend an hour walking through the woods and around the bay, watching the sunset. The long daylight is perfect for happihyppelyThe Finnish term “oxygen-hopping” means to take a walk in the fresh air for exercise and fresh air. Back at my cabin I jump between the heat of the sauna and dips in the icy Baltic Sea. As I breathe out, the evening, the sun and summer stretch before me. I can see why Tove Jansson loved this coastline: all I need for a dreamy summer is right here.
The trip was sponsored by Visit Finland. Runo Hotel in Porvoo has doubles from €171 B&B. Cabins for self-catering at Santalahti resort start from €89 (sleep Two or more people can be a group.); sauna cottages from €198 (sleeps four)
