Leppävaara is located in Espoo and is easily accessible by both bus and train from Helsinki. Adjacent to the rail and bus station is a modern, attractive shopping centre called Sello which has a wide selection of shops and cafes. As it was such a warm, sunny day we decided to take a stroll over to the Sports Park which is accessed through the rail tunnel. Our route took us past a small shopping plaza and some modern apartment blocks before taking a left turn to enter the park.
Leppävaara has a large swimming complex including two outdoor pools. One has water slides which were proving extremely popular on such a warm day whilst the other is for more serious swimmers and has ten lanes. There is also a cafe and plenty space to sit and sunbathe.
Continuing, we noticed an Angry Birds children’s playground, football pitches and a fully equipped athletics stadium which seemed to be such a good resource to have locally.
Climbing a hill, we followed a path through the forest which led us to Treetop Adventure Huippu.
We didn’t know this was here but it was fun to watch both adults and children moving from tree to tree using zip wires, balancing on nets, crossing swaying bridges and walking on tight ropes up to 60 feet high. I’ve heard of similar activity centres in the U.K. but I hadn’t seen one before.
We then retraced our steps back to Leppävaara bus station from where we took a bus the short distance to Jorvi to visit Glims Farmstead Museum. The museum is located just across the road from Espoo’s largest hospital where the bus terminates.
The Glims farmstead situated in the Karvasmäki village dates back to the 16th century. The current eleven museum buildings date back to the 19th century and are still standing in their original places forming an authentic farm yard. A tour was about to start when we arrived but as it was going to be in Finnish we decided to explore by ourselves which wasn’t a problem. There were several varieties of sheep and some native breeds of hen within the farm and children were enjoying looking at them and petting. One of the buildings was the former dairy which demonstrated how cows were milked by hand and there was a stone vat for keeping the milk cold, so very different from the high tech methods used in farming today.
In another building there was a display of old farm machinery, sleighs and carts with large wooden wheels whilst next door a demonstration of hand weaving was taking place. I really enjoyed my visit, it’s especially nice on a warm summer’s day when you can enjoy being outdoors in the beautiful countryside.
Before leaving, we enjoyed drinks in the attractive small cafe and chatted with some other visitors who were also there for the first time. It costs €4 to visit the museum but if you can arrange your visit for a Wednesday then there is no charge. Walking back to the hospital we just timed it right as a bus was ready for us to board back to Helsinki. If you would like more information on Glims Farmstead you can find it here.
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