Independent Minds: Susanne Hulbekkmo, Skýra Retreat

Our CEO, Mika Pitkämäki, already had a holiday home on the neighbouring plot. When the former village school came up for sale, he initially bought it to protect the character of the area. He felt that such a remarkable location should be protected from overdevelopment with something smaller and more considered.

We were already business partners in other ventures, but the concept developed slowly. We were balancing other work, and then the pandemic changed both the timeline and the world around us. By the time we returned to the project properly, people’s needs had shifted. Travellers were looking for privacy, space, nature and experiences that felt restorative rather than performative. Tourism in Rovaniemi had also grown enormously, and we felt there was a genuine need for a more intimate and holistic place.

When we began planning in detail, I spent hours sitting in different parts of the grounds — lying in the snow where each cabin would stand — to understand the feeling of every location. The former school yard and sports field allowed us to position the accommodation without clearing the forest, and Norvajärvi had a magical quality of light and peace I wanted others to experience.

To understand where we are, it helps to understand that “Lapland” means several different things at once. It is an administrative region of Finland, but also a globally recognised destination associated with snow, wilderness, Christmas and the Northern Lights. Within it are older cultural landscapes such as Peräpohjola, where we are, and the wider Northern region overlaps with Sápmi, the homeland of the indigenous Sámi people, which extends across several national borders.

Skýra is on the northern shore of Lake Norvajärvi, approximately 17 kilometres northwest of Rovaniemi. Rovaniemi is often presented internationally as a remote Arctic destination, but for those of us who live here, it is also an ordinary and active regional capital. It has welcomed travellers for generations, and hospitality is deeply embedded in the region.

Norvajärvi expresses another side of local life. It is one of the larger lakes in the Rovaniemi area, covering approximately 1,180 hectares, and many local families have cottages along its shores. Retreating to a simple lakeside cabin is a very Finnish tradition. Due to the volume of holiday homes we sometimes jokingly call it “the Hamptons of Rovaniemi”, although the glamour here is more likely to involve woollen socks and sauna.

The old village school makes that continuity particularly visible. Built from local logs in 1952, it educated generations of children and served as a meeting place for the entire village. It belongs to the history of post-war Lapland, when Rovaniemi and its surrounding communities were rebuilding after the destruction of the Lapland War.

Nature here is defined by constant change. Winter begins with the Polar Night, freezing water and the first snow, before deepening into blue light, heavy snow and a frozen lake where guests can walk, ski and fish beneath the open sky. From autumn through spring, the Northern Lights are often visible directly above the retreat, with the open lake providing an exceptionally clear view. Spring brings dazzling light and longer days; summer, the Midnight Sun and light-filled nights; and autumn, ruska, when the forest turns red, ochre and gold. In Lapland, the changes in light are as significant as those in temperature, shaping how people live, move and understand time.