Öfvergårds is a family-run apple farm in Tjudö, in the area called Åland’s apple kingdom. Tjudö is located on the mainland of Åland, in a 30min drive by car from Mariehamn.

Finland’s southernmost apple orchard with about 1200 trees is at Kökar in the Åland archipelago. The farm is located in Österbygge, about 2 km from the main road.

"Anton" is a sheep farm and a B&B on Kökar island. The name “Antons” comes from the farm’s founder Anton Fagerström who was a fisherman and built a home for his family back in 1920. Now the third generation, Anton’s grandchildren, live here. The little guest house with cosy rooms is situated in an old village not far from the sea.

Located in the Kökar archipelago Kälskär – called the baron’s paradise in English, is a small, almost mythical island, far out at sea, off mainland Kökar. The island is one of the most popular destinations for excursions from Kökar and what has attracted visitors for a long time is the so-called “Källskärskannan”, a unique rock formation created during the ice age. The formation stretching about 3 m up from the surrounding rock is smooth and round. There are also other amazing natural phenomena created throughout history.

Nature is one of the reasons that the Åland Islands are a popular tourist destination and also why the natives love their home. Visitors who want to live like a local in Åland can do as the locals do and go on a nature walk and since the locals enjoy nature walks there are a lot of different routes in the Åland Islands. 

The hotel is located in Björnholm, one of the islands in Brändö municipality. The hotel and restaurant Gullvivan is located on its own small grounds, yet close to the road network in the Åland Northeast Archipelago municipality Brändö. The hotel has 31 rooms, is open all year round and has a beautiful lake view from every room. For guests arriving by their own boats, Gullvivan’s guest harbour has room for 25 boats, and has all the services of the main hotel. Gullvivan’s customers can use their electric car charger for free.

Lappo is a holiday option for visitors looking forward to spending time in peace and quiet. The place is never crowded.

Tiina Thörnroos and her family run a cosy guesthouse in a converted former village school which is inland from the sea, and also offer self-catering cottages Pellas Marina No. 1 or No. 3 near the island’s harbour.

The small island Jurmo in Åland’s north-eastern archipelago has 44 inhabitants and is a place for relaxed holidays. Jurmo’s specialty is the long-haired and handsome horned Highland cattle from Scotland, which by grazing on the island, help in keeping the landscape open and beautiful. The animals are kept outdoors all year round and the beef meat can be bought at the Butik Kvarnen summer store and can also be ordered in advance.

This workshop will take place at the Kettukallio Experience farm situated in the Finnish countryside, some 20 minutes’ drive from the city of Lohja and surrounded by a beautiful Finnish forest. An alternative option is to have this Textile Art workshop at a local Yarn Shop Vaudevilla in the heart of Lohja. The shop is full of colourful textile materials to see and buy.

The forest park is a 3ha collection of trees located on the shore of Lohjanjärvi, in the rural Skraatila village. The collection includes more than 100 taxa and 300 varieties of trees and shrubs from three continents. In addition to the guided wellness trail there are different garden themes and site facilities include a cafeteria, several terraces, parking lot (suitable for busses), two eco toilets with running water.

Finns are well-known for their design, and this tour visits places for art and design enthusiasts, food enthusiasts and anyone who enjoys cute historic villages with a unique, local atmosphere. The sculptor and environmental artist studio in Siuntio village is located in a beautiful rural area, surrounded by farms and local rural life. Fiskars Village is in the historical surroundings of an old village area outside the town of Raasepori.

The tour visits the sites of the Finnish national epic Kalevala which has shaped the nation’s identity. The epic is a collection of thousands of poems by writer Elias Lönnrot who was born in the Lohja region in the 19th century. The Kalevala relates stories of love and loyalty, hatred and jealousy, it tells about the prehistoric past when people lived closer to nature. The Kalevala epic has inspired generations of artists, cloth and jewellery designers, musicians, and film producers.

Karnaistenkorpi is the largest integrated recreation area in the Lohja region, covering approximately 200 ha. There are valleys, patches of marshland, quietly flowing forest streams and two beautiful forest ponds. Spending time in nature to keep fit is part of Finnish lifestyle today and the Kisakallio Sports Institute offers a wide variety of sports, activities, educational opportunities as well as excellent facilities for professional and amateur sports enthusiasts. Spending time in the Karnainen Nature Spa by hiking helps people to reduce blood pressure, reduce cortisol levels, boost the immune system by increasing the levels of natural killer cells, reduce stress level and improve creativity.

The story of apple farming in Lohja began in the 16th century when lord of the manor Erik Fleming brought apple tree seedlings from Tallinn. Many envied Fleming’s apples, which he could pick directly from his own trees and so apple trees began to appear in home gardens ranging from manor houses to working-class homes. The tradition of apple farming is still strongly visible all around Lohja and especially on Lohjansaari island situated in the middle of Lake Lohjanjävi, the largest lake in Southern Finland.

The annual Apple Carnival is a one-day event held in the second half of September during the best apple season in South Finland. The carnival offers a variety of seasonal fruit and vegetables, handicrafts, local food, music, dance and many other cultural programmes. The Apple Carnival takes place close to Lohja City centre in the garden and field of the Lohja Museum. It is a very typical Finnish event, where local people and visitors meet each other and visitors catch many local delicacies and have a chance to taste traditional food. Lohja is called the city of apples with over 200 000 apple trees, so this event suits the region very well.

This package introduces the most traditional ways to experience spending two days like a Finn. Sauna, smoke sauna, food, old traditional Christmas fair event and a visit to a Finnish home to spend a Christmas evening with the Laine family. Warm hearted local people to meet and taste rural delicacies by the campfire. Finns love to travel to rural sites during midsummer and during Christmas time. If we don’t have the opportunity to travel to rural sites, we try to create the best traditional Christmas at our home. 

Choosing rural life is what allows people today to experience the link with wild nature and animals. No other horse can match the Icelandic horse when exploring this type of heavy terrain. Their size and carrying capability together with their incredible mentality make it easy to understand why they were the choice of Nordic ancestors – the Vikings, who brought the horse to Iceland over 1.000 years ago.

A 2.5 hour drive north of Stockholm takes guests to Asta, a small, picturesque country village of Söderala parish near Ålsjön Nature Reserve in Hälsingland historical province. The Hälsingland Farmhouses were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List under the name “Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland” in 2012. The nomination focuses on what is truly unique about the farmhouses. 

The farm is located in Trönö, ca 20 km from Söderhamn. Trönö is a small village with nice scenery for horse carriage rides.

The “Sabile Cider” company’s factory is located near the heart of Sabile, where each autumn the region’s farmers deliver apples from their orchards for processing and fermentation to make the cider. The factory also provides a public meeting place where, during the summer, the company and Sabile local government organise concerts and cultural events.

The farmstead is located in the Abava Ancient river valley. Visitors can experience true Latvian farm life in a farm where there are goats, sheep, horses, geese, chickens, rabbits and other animals. The restoration of the farmstead began in 1991 and at that time there were collapsed barn walls and an overgrown apple orchard. The Ezeriņi family started the work in order to fulfil their eldest daughter Signe’s dream of living in the countryside and owning her own horse.

The “Gulbji” Selonian homestead is one of the very few places in Latvia where one can see a farm characteristic of the historical region of Selonia with its typical buildings. “Gulbji” homestead is comparatively far from major roads and populated areas and located in a landscape with forests, natural meadows and hills, the property also has a lake, a spring and ponds.

The “Sēlija Boats” organisation is located at the “Skārdupītes” homestead, which is some 5 km from Aknīste and on the side of the P73 Vecumnieki–Nereta–Subate road.  The area is being developed for active tourism, hoping that visitors will be able to stroll around the nearby forests and wetland meadows, learn all about the history of boating, rent boats and bicycles, stay at well-appointed tent locations, and cook a tasty meal on a campfire after an intensive hike.

Valmiermuiža is on the northern border of the city of Valmiera.  Aristocratic estates were established there during the 15th and 16th centuries, and all of them had breweries and saloons.  Valmiermuiža had a Castle Saloon where beer was brewed and sold.  Latvians were allowed to brew beer for home consumption, and that kept traditional brewing techniques alive in Latvia.

“Dzirnupes” is a traditional farm in rural Vidzeme, located 15 km from Limbaži.  During the summer, the owners welcome guests, wishing to spend a night in the romantic granary.  Built in 1924 as a grain storage facility, the granary is now a cosy little place for guests, designed in an ethnographic style with antique furnishings, interior design objects and tool as well as a sauna.

The “Kainaži” homestead is nearly 150 years old, and located between Smiltene and Rauna.  The farm is encircled by hundred-year-old oak trees, and it is in a quiet place far from major roads.  The farm has a park of more than 300 different types of maples, birches and walnut trees.  For many years, the Labanovskis family has been producing and popularising various types of birch and maple juice.  The owners studied the Canadian experience in the production of syrups, and they have done so successfully for several years.  Products at “Birzī” are biologically certified.

Karlamuiza is a cozy hotel located near Cēsis town in the Amata River valley. The guest house is located near a landscape park and a nature trail by the Amata River. Mushrooming is a national passion in Latvia. Trying out a mushrooming experience is part of getting to know the local way of life and doing things the way locals do them.

The farm is surrounded by biologically valuable grassland meadows and forest and has its own forest lake. The nearest neighbours are 2 km away. This is one of the first businesses in Latvia where, after the restoration of independence, tea production began using Latvian wild and garden plants. For more than 20 years now, the brand “Lauku tējas” (country teas) has been available on store shelves.

Here at Ziedlejas, we believe that nature shows us the right pace. That it prefers flow over rush. The proximity of nature inspires calm – it heals and nurtures us, giving us strength. Therefore, people can be their best selves when they are in tune with nature and at peace with themselves.

The tour is guided by Mrs. Helen Külvik, an experienced guide and passionate ambassador of Seto culture. She has been a member of the Seto community for over 20 years and works for the Seto Institute.

The tour takes guests to meet the local people of Setomaa visiting a family-run café, a soap maker, an artisan’s gallery, a caretaker of the local chapel and a young farmer family. All of them are eager to share the best of their lifestyle, culture, values and stories with visitors.

The Võromaa smoke sauna tradition, practiced in southern Estonia, is on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. At Mooska Farm, guests can experience this Estonian heritage.

Mooska farm is a typical lifestyle farm in Southern Estonia. The powerful location at the foot of Vällamäe is set amidst the beautiful south Estonian countryside and harmoniously connects the farm life with the wildlife and the heritage of ancestors.

The Mulgimaa region in southern Estonia extends into Pärnu, Viljandi, and Valga counties.

The tour hostess is Jaanika Toome who knows the Mulgimaa communities very well.

The guide Liis Lainemäe has been developing and marketing the area for almost 12 years, starting with the birth of the Onion Road. She knows the joys and sorrows of all the service providers and tells the stories about the area, about sights and folk-art objects along the way.

The guest house is located on the Onion Route, a destination on the shores of Lake Peipsi, the largest lake in Estonia and a trans-border lake of the Europe-an Union. It is about 45 km from Tartu. 

This area has been populated for 350 years by Russian Old Believers – orthodox Christians who fled from Russia due to persecution. Today the area surprises with its authentic customs and traditions, one of the most important of which is tea drinking. Traditional samovar, a predecessor of the modern kettle, is used to brew and serve tea. Tea rituals take time, so people slow down, sit back, enjoy company, and have a chat. Making tea in samovar is a social event.

The location is not far from Soomaa Na-tional Park and the historical small town of Tori. At Klaara-Manni the traditional Estonian sauna building stands in the courtyard of the spacious holiday com-plex surrounded by a large and beautiful organic garden.

Energia Talu (Energy Farm) is located in the southern part of Estonia and is a medicinal plant centre with its own tea house. All herbs on the farm are grown organically.

Estonia is a maritime country where coastal fishing has a long tradition and is part of the history of the Estonian coastal people. Scenic fishing villages Kaberneeme Salmistu, Purekari and Viinistu in Lahemaa region are located in the area that is the best for fishing sea trout and boasts the biggest fish.

Named after its oldest village, Juminda peninsula is connected with many legends. There are relics from different periods and fields to be seen. The local community is resourceful, and 10 villages are well known for their active co-operation. They have established a voluntary sea rescue unit, a community house and a shop.