• Season 2023;
• Impression Metsäranta by Lieve and Onno;
• View from the cottage;
• 'Our beavers';
• New website Savonranta;
• This summer;
• We are 'Proud' certified;
• Faster internet;
• New rates;
• Previously sent newsletters.

The 2023 season is once again behind us. We welcomed many new and lovely guests again this year. We are closing this year earlier than usual, namely on 10 September. The reason is that we ourselves are now going on holiday for a few weeks, within Finland and perhaps a trip to Estonia.

We are very satisfied with our guests' stay. Without exception, all our guests were happy with their stay and we with our fantastic guests. We received mostly 5 out of 5 stars in the evaluation.

This year, too, I was able to enjoy a stew, which one of our guests had prepared over the campfire. It was delicious!

I am so happy that I can and do share my dream place with other people, because that is what it is all about. When my guests enjoy, I enjoy too!

A number of tips to improve or add to the cottage's inventory also came in again this year, including a small 2nd cutting board, a garlic press and a grater. This was accomplished immediately afterwards. There is also now a big frying pan.

I am therefore very happy with the comments you leave as my guests!

Thank you for coming and I hope to see you again!

Warm regards,

Han van de Graaf

From two guests I received beautiful little paintings made during their stay.

Thank you Lieve and Onno!

Painting by Lieve

Painting by Onno

One of my guests gave me a tip on the evaluation form to improve the view on the lake from the cottage. A full view is not possible, because then I would have to cut down all the trees on the right and left, so that's not possible, but it was a justified comment, as it turned out later.

As owner, you don't often sit on the veranda of the cottage, so you also have little idea about the view. Over the years, the bushes and trees appear to grow quickly. After this comment, I went to see for myself how the view of the lake actually is. It was indeed less than I had expected myself. So I immediately started pruning to improve the view.

See the picture of how the view is now. A big difference, as you now have a beautiful view on the lake and our beavers 'house' again.

I myself had seen 'our beavers', across the lake, several times, but not as many guests had spotted the beavers.

You have to be lucky and look out for them by dusk. But in this season, three guests also witnessed beaver activities.

A second beaver lodge was discovered a little further on and even later a third lodge was spotted. I am very happy about this, not only that guests have seen the beavers, but also because these wonderful animals feel safe in our lake.

This winter the beavers knocked down some young poplars near the pier and dragged them to their lodge. I wondered during the winter where these tracks in the snow came from, but after the snow melted, it became clear to me and I could clearly see that they had cut down some trees. I grant them this!

Savonranta, my hometown, had until recently only a website in Finnish, really only for the Finnish residents themselves. There was no website for tourists. So I came up with the idea of creating a new website myself in several languages to promote Savonranta. While I was already working on it, a project came up from the municipality of Savonlinna (of which Savonranta is a part) to put Savonranta better on the map. So that came out great and I quickly joined this project.

The result, I think, is a beautiful new website about Savonranta: https://savonranta.com/. It contains lots of fun and useful information, including about the 'devil' mysteries and walking and cycling routes. 

The website is in 5 languages: English, German, Dutch, Finnish and Swedish.

I think it is more than worth visiting this website, if only to read those stories about the 'devils' of Savonranta.

Thank you Sarah for the Swedish translation!

This summer, we did not complain about interest. The season was 'convivially' busy.

I notice that almost all our guests come to enjoy nature, peace and quiet and to be able to relax and recover from the busy everyday life.

I don't rent out the cottage as a source of income for myself, but mainly to let other people enjoy my 'paradise' here in Savonranta. Besides, it is nice to have contact with other people, of course only if they themselves want to, because I respect the privacy of all my guests.

My guests enjoy the truly unique nature, clean water, clean air and silence. You really only hear the sounds of nature, of birds, the wind and the waves of the lake. For some guests, this is an experience they have never had before in their lives.

And that is what I enjoy :-). That is also the reason I moved from the Netherlands to this unique place in Finland.

It is also located right next to the 'Kolovesi National Park' a beautiful area for hiking and canoeing.

We recently attended a training on 'Travel Proud', an initiative of Booking.com and where the focus is on your attitude towards people from the LGBTQ+ community. It was a good and useful training.

Everyone is welcome at our cottage Metsäranta.

It doesn't matter who you are or who you love.

From the end of August, there is faster internet on our property. For our guests, it means that the speed of our free WIFI has increased 5 times. That makes a big difference and you can surf and receive and send e-mail faster.

I have always assumed that staying in our cottage should be affordable for a wide range of people. Therefore, our rates are and have always been much lower than similar lodgings in cottages in this region.

Unfortunately, I have to announce an increase in the cottage rental price for the coming year, due to rising general prices (inflation) and, in particular, the 400% increase in my electricity tariff, already from 1 January 2023! The boiler and underfloor heating in the sauna require quite a lot of electricity.

I have yet to calculate what the new tariffs will be, but I will keep them as low as possible. I will definitely be and remain the cheapest accommodation in our region!

I hope this Newsletter was informative for you. 'See' you in the next edition.

If you have any suggestions for the newsletters regarding articles or photos, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Han van de Graaf

Cottage Metsäranta - Savonranta
Rommikalliontie 54B - Savonranta - Finland
© 2023 Cottage Metsäranta