Every design for Mäntyharju

Mäntyharju is known as summer-cottage country. Few municipalities in Finland have more holiday homes, and in high summer the population more than triples as families arrive at its many clear lakes, close enough to Helsinki for a weekend and served by a fast train. The name means Pine Ridge, and Taidekeskus Salmela, the art centre, puts on one of the country's largest cultural events each July and August.

What sets Mäntyharju apart is that it has always sat on a line. The historical regions of Tavastia, Savonia and Karelia met here, and the parish was formed from pieces of four older ones. After the Treaty of Turku the border between Sweden and Russia cut it in two, leaving the church on the Russian side, yet it stayed one parish until Old Finland was joined to the Grand Duchy and the halves were reunited. Pertunmaa broke away as its own municipality and has since returned. Iso-Pappila and Korsumuseo keep that layered past, and the monument Mäntyharju 1595-1995 marks four centuries of it.

Then the season turns, the car leaves the main road for the gravel track down to the water, and the lake opens out between the pines. Summer has come home.