AUTUMN COTTAGE HOLIDAY IN UKKOHALLA Every October our kids get a week off school and it’s a chance for us to spend some time together as a family. This year we had an autumn cottage holiday in Ukkohalla, and we were very glad we did. Ukkohalla is a little-known but excellent little ski resort, located between the towns of Kajaani and Kuusamo in northern Finland. It took us less than four hours to drive there from our home in Joensuu, heading north through the pleasant scenery of autumn-coloured forests and misty fields. According to the road signs as we neared our destination, we’d travelled ..read more

HELSINKI WITH KIDS We recently took our three children to Helsinki, for a week-long summertime city break. Someone had been kind enough to offer our boisterous family of five the use of their city-centre flat. And so, before this person could change their mind, we all packed our bags and went to the capital for some metropolitan fun. Prior to arriving in the city, however, some troubling questions crossed our minds about spending this much time in Helsinki with our kids (an unruly set of youngsters, aged 11, 9 and 4). Would we find enough to keep them occupied? Would they all be suitably tire ..read more