A summer cottage is a private building where  Finns go if they want to be alone and relax and enjoy the peace of the nature.There are lots of those in Finland:approximately one cottage per ten Finns.

  A summer cottage is always in the middle of nature. Mostly people like to have their summer cottage near a lake or a river. Fortunately there are a lot of lakes and rivers in Finland.

  There is hardly a summer cottage in Finland without a sauna.If you go by boat on a lake in summer,you can see how the people run from the sauna to the lake and back,how they sit barbequeing and fishing on the shore or play "mölkky" with their friends.

  In the cottage there is usually a fireplace where you can fry sausages.Nowadays many cottages have got electricity and running water,but in less habitated areas it is usual that the water must be carried from a well or a lake, and that the cottage is heated with wood.