Little House on a Hill

Finally, after so much of hoping and dreaming and, yes, almost even despairing, we have found our perfect home with a garden! Everything happened eventually with a head-spinning speed, which meant doing all the packing, moving and great amounts of paperwork in just two weeks. No time to even get properly excited, just action, no words!

Luckily Mon Cheri's dad assisted us with the move and good that he did, otherwise we wouldn't have made it in the time required.

But here we are now, in the middle of stunningly beautiful nature and in a whole new climate. There's still so much to do; boxes to empty, wood to order, garden to prepare but every five minutes or so we have to stop and look at the view and all the space around us. We can't quite believe how lucky we are!

Our new, beautiful home, full of old-day-charm. The owner has renovated it completely (only the walls remained) but he has kept faithful to the old style. The house is connected to a former cowshed, now serving as a garage and a wood workshop for Mon Cheri.

And a big garden for me! Lots of space for lots of plants once I get all that grass up and prepare the soil. But who could wish for a better view to grow the potatoes.

The former occupant left this stove for us; the best gift of all, for it's in use every day. Did I mention that the night we arrived it was snowing? Yup, quite a different climate indeed! The owners had kindly left us enough wood for couple of weeks but still we had to call the 'woodman' the next day to order a load of logs to survive a bit longer. And we started foraging tout de suite in the surrounding forests too.

There's also a little forest just behind the house where we collect sticks and logs. I am quite possessive with the saw and axe (being a Finn means we learn these skills in our childhood), despite Mon Cheri's best efforts being a manly man of the woods. Och well, he has plenty of opportunities to show that side of his with all the things we need in the house. And he needs to build me a greenhouse too, for the tomatoes and other fragile plants.

Very tired but also very happy. Sante! and cheers to our new home!

OUR forest.