We are staying for 3 days at a B&B in eastern Finland named Lomamokkila. When I found it on the internet, I considered it because it was a farm and the room rate included breakfast. Little did I know! This is a half step away from paradise! I have worked for B&B's and I know the work involved. Where I worked, we had kitchen staff (me and a part time helper), office staff, gardeners, housekeepers and a laundry gal. We slept 40 people when we were full. Here at Lomamokkila, as far as I can tell, Kalle and his wife Laura, run this entire farm with minimal outside help. There is a sweet young woman in the kitchen, but aside from that, it seems Kalle and Laura do it all. This evening after dinner (more on that later), Doreen and I walked outside and Kalle was watering a flower bed. I asked him if he had a gardener who kept up the grounds and he laughed and said, "I wish!". Right then the older of his two young daughters (they are 3 & 5) picked up a watering can and began watering right along with him, so he does have some help! There are flowers everywhere, lilac bushes line the end of the driveway, poppies, bleeding hearts, roses, lupines and so many more that I can't even pretend I know the names of. There are apple trees and birch trees, willows and hemlocks. We go barefoot in the soft grass (a real treat for this Texas gal!) and constantly have our noses in blossoms (Doreen can't pass a flower without seeing if it has a scent).
Lilacs!
Poppies!
Bleeding Hearts!
The flower bed outside our room with daisies and the most amazing lupines! They were blooming all over southern Finland; in ditches, on the side of the highway, huge patches of them in yards, all pink and purple and taller than knee high!
The birch lined driveway.
The Highland Cattle Kalle and Laura raise.
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