My Nuuksio - The Dream Job

What does Nuuksio National Park mean to you?

Nature has been an important thing and place to me already since childhood when I went with my friends to catch fish with homemade fishing rods and build huts in the nearby woods. When I was young, we took a day and overnight trips to the forests of Nuuksio National Park. I fell in love with the Nuuksio area and its wilderness. And so close to the city! Since those times, it has been a dream of mine to one day find a small cottage in Nuuksio. 

As an adult, I decided to get off the "squirrel bike" ("oravankolo" in Finnish)  and got to know the Adventure Sports and Education course in Tornio without thinking about what I would do after that. During that course, I started to think in my little head that I could do something like this as a job? That's where the idea started, and I continued with the Nature, Wilderness, and Experience Guide course that was held in Nuuksio. After that, the idea of a new job description became stronger. Since then, I have waded through all kinds of training related to my field and developed my skills. I work as a freelance guide as well as a permanent worker for guided tours and experience companies. Luckily for me, most of the guiding and other tasks have taken place in the wonderful nature of Nuuksio. 

After some time, I decided to set up my own program service company, Eventure Oy. The dream was that I would find a building in the Nuuksio where I could get some equipment and organize programs in the Nuuksio forests. It wasn't easy after all. A 50-kilometer circle from Helsinki became the search area for the office space, but I just couldn’t find a suitable place. Thus, I settled on renting a storage/office space on the stone base of a concrete structure and started from there to implement programs and adventures for groups whenever and wherever.
 

However, through a lucky coincidence, I found a farm, and suddenly, I was a tenant on an old farm on the border of the Nuuksio National Park! I renovated places little by little, and after a couple of years, the landlord was willing to sell the place to me. After all, I became an owner. The space, which is more than a hundred years old, has been renovated with respect for the old, and it now serves nicely as a place for companies and other groups to spend their team-building days. A renovated villa with all comforts, a large hut with an open fire, a wood-heated sauna and the atmospheric Yli-Takkula barn and a beautiful yard. In addition, good food and numerous activities are carried out... Can you guess where? Yes, in the wonderful nature and lakes of Nuuksio National Park. Besides that, we still do activities in the Uusimaa region in other places that have become familiar over the past few decades. 

Now, we are making my dream profession come true, together with like-minded guides and collaborators, in the landscapes of my dreams - in Nuuksio. This year marks 30 years, both in Nuuksio National Park and in my program service career. Working days are often long, but they don't feel that way when you have a workplace that is wonderful to come to every single day.

Kim Kärkkäinen, Yli-Takkulan venue and Eventure Oy owner

Hero Image: Eventure Oy, Kim Kärkkäinen