WINTER HOLIDAYS IN SAARISELKA

The frozen beauty of the Arctic is something only a privileged few manage to experience, and Lapland – a swathe of wilderness stretching from Finland to Norway, has always been shrouded in mystery and legend. Our holiday here is in the Eastern Finnish province of Ivalo – a Sami region where the reindeer outnumber the people, the sun sets the endless skies aflame at dusk, and the kaleidoscopic Northern Lights, believed by local Sami people to be the souls of the dead in eternal battle, are said to dance in the sky when you sing to them.

The picturesque village of Saariselka is your base for the week. Low timber buildings huddle below the snowy fells in the centre of one of Finland’s most extensive skiing networks. More than 220kms of groomed trails radiate in all directions, including into one of Finland’s loveliest National Parks – Urho Kekkonen. Snow-thick pine forests are home to reindeer and moose, while Arctic hare and willow grouse flit between pines in snowy winter camouflage. Snowflakes are so tiny they seem to float, sparkling like diamond dust in the light, and the extreme beauty of an Arctic winter, and the eerie kaamoslight - when the sun does not rise in midwinter - is genuinely breathtaking.