Every design for Kontiolahti

Kontiolahti spreads out north of Joensuu along Highway 6, a municipality where water covers a good share of the map. Lake Höytiäinen, Kangasvesi and Herajärvi are the largest of its many lakes, and part of Koli National Park lies inside its borders. The name means bear bay, and the bear on the coat of arms carries a log driver's pike pole, a nod to the forests that kept the area working.

Winter here means biathlon: Kontiolahti has hosted the Biathlon World Championships more than once, and the championships have made the name familiar far beyond North Karelia. Summer means Sataman uimaranta and Vierevänniemen uimaranta, and quiet mornings at Satamalahden lintutorni watching the birds over the bay. In between is ordinary life in a growing municipality: the border guard in Onttola, families settling in Kulho and Lehmo on the Joensuu side, and Runo-Antti, the bookmobile, doing its rounds of the villages. The old parish dishes, shoemaker's roast and stockfish soup, still say something about the place.

Whether your Kontiolahti is the centre, Lehmo or a lakeside village, this is your bear bay. Wear it through every season.