Metsäsydän is located in Puumala, on our old family farm by the shores of Lake Saimaa, in the Naistenvesi landscape. As recently as 1992, cows lived in the barn and grazed in the surrounding fields. After they were gone, Olli and his family focused on farming and forest management.
Maria and Olli met in 2015. Soon after, Olli moved to Helsinki to live with Maria, and both studied forest ecology at the University of Helsinki. Maria is originally from the wide plains of Southern Ostrobothnia, from Ilmajoki. It didn’t take long for a shared direction to emerge, and soon they moved to Puumala. Metsäsydän was founded in 2018.
The journey has been rich and full of life. We have renovated the old barn into a yoga space – the Karhusali – and transformed the barn loft into a venue for gatherings and celebrations. The upper floor of our home now offers accommodation. Alongside this, we have hosted events and welcomed guests during the summers, both in our home and in the cottage village. The cottage village returned to our management in 2024 after being rented to a canoeing entrepreneur for 40 years.
Our family grew with the birth of our first child in 2022 and our second in 2025. Our daughters represent the fifth generation on this land, bringing joy and lightness to the hill. Our daily life is also shared with two cats, a dog, and in the summer, sheep grazing on a nearby island.
Metsäsydän -Forest Heart- is a dream with wings. Through our story, we want to inspire trust in the idea that courage and faith will carry you.
Metsäsydän is a forested journey to the heart – for the individual, the community, and the place itself. It is a source from which the desire and strength to create well-being arise. It is a decision to live one’s own dream while bringing the old into a new time.
We offer well-being and presence through the paths we have found ourselves. Maria discovered one path to inner peace through yoga, while Olli found clarity in the quiet of the forest – sitting on a tree stump, letting thoughts settle. Both are forestry professionals, holding Master’s degrees in forest sciences, and their path toward Metsäsydän began through deeply experiencing the restorative effects of the forest.
Nature heals. Nature prevails. As humans, we are part of nature.
By bringing together our individual paths toward well-being, toward the heart of the forest, and toward one another, Metsäsydän offers services that create connection – within oneself and with others.
Metsäsydän is a place where people can meet, heart to heart.
“It is only with the heart that one can see clearly.”
The story of Metsäsydän is rewritten every day. It reflects a continuous desire to grow, evolve, and live fully.
At its core, Metsäsydän is like the roots of a tree in the earth – present, nourishing, and deeply connected to everything around it.