Every design for Nurmes

At Bomban talo, Bomba House in Nurmes, Karelian building and Karelian food traditions are kept alive side by side, and the Kalevala village around it, Bomban Kalevalakylä, draws visitors who want a taste of both. Nearby are a golf course and a holiday centre, and in winter the town turns to music: Nurmes has declared itself Finland's, and then Europe's, Christmas carol town, with concerts filling the weeks before Christmas.

Nurmes lies at the northern tip of Lake Pielinen in North Karelia, close to the borders of Kainuu and North Savo. The heart of the town stands on a ridge between Nurmesjärvi and Pielinen, and the name itself comes from the Karelian word nurmi, a meadow by the shore. The town is the end of the line for the passenger train from Joensuu, and Finland's first Karelian language nest, a pre-school where children learn the language by immersion, opened here. Around the town are hundreds of lakes and three hiking areas, Raesärkkä, Mujejärvi and Peurajärvi, with Koli national park within a day's reach.

If you have ever walked that ridge between two lakes on a winter evening, you will know exactly where this map is taking you.