Paikkari Cottage Turku & Finland'S South Coast

Paikkari Cottage is the birthplace of Elias Lönnrot, collector of Finnish folklore and compiler of the Kalevala epic. It’s an endearing cottage set amid summer-flowering meadows that must have motivated Lönnrot’s Arcadian vision (nowadays it inspires picnics). Inside there’s a small museum that includes Lönnrot's cradle and his kantele (Karelian stringed instrument). The cottage is 23km northwest of Lohja and 5km north of the village of Sammatti, just off Rd 104.