Every design for Loppi

In Loppi the water has to make up its mind which way to run, because the forested Tammela uplands and the long Salpausselkä ridges split the streams: Loppijärvi and Kaartjärvi send theirs north towards the Kokemäenjoki, while the lakes along the southern edge drain towards the coast. This is a municipality in Kanta-Häme, south of Hämeenlinna, where marked trails run through pine forest and the Komio nature reserve, and where divers come for the lake at Räyskälä known as Iso-Melkutin.

For many, Loppi means summer: a cottage by one of its lakes, potatoes from the local fields, and the old tale of the giant devil of Kaakkomäki. Enraged by the bells of the church of Saint Bridget, he hurled a boulder at the tower and missed, and the rock came down at Tiirinkallio on the shore of Loppijärvi.

Kotiseutumuseo Lukkarin puustelli, the old parish clerk's homestead, keeps the parish's older life on show, while Koidulankivi and Lopen toisen kirkon muistomerkki each hold a story of their own. They are the small, particular places a map of Loppi brings back.