On Monday, December 2, 2024, the opening day of the new tourism service was held in Kinnula, at the old folk school in Kangaskylä. The entrepreneurs, offering HetApu personnel services and Kangashoiva Oy’s care work, have now expanded their business to the accommodation side as well.
In the heart of Finland, you can enjoy small and personal accommodations – Kangaskoti is now one of them
Last week, a new tourist service was opened in Kinnula, right in the northern part of the Sydänsuomesa region. Entrepreneurs Elina Harjula and Anne Risto expanded their business to the accommodation side. In the background, the women also run HetApu personnel services and Kangashoiva Oy, which offers care work. In the future, accommodation services will be offered under the Kangaskoti name. The joint entrepreneurial journey started from the idea of two family mothers to combine family and work, without compromising on the things and values that are important to them.
– We bought a former school building from Kinnula municipality together in 2010. We both live with our families in the same building, from which we will also rent rooms for tourists and groups in the future. You can also rent the apartment for longer-term living and enjoy your own peace. One of the apartments is rented to a resident in need of support, for whom our other company HetApu provides a support service, Risto says.
Kangaskoti entrepreneurs Elina Harjula (left) and Anne Risto are satisfied with the new accommodation facilities. (Photo: Jenni Leppilahti)
There are sixteen accommodation rooms in total and they are comfortably furnished. The premises also have shared kitchens and lounges. Toilet and shower facilities and a washing machine can be found near the rooms. The place is ideal especially for different groups. The house also offers quiet rooms for travelers and those doing travel work.
– It would be nice to organize some kind of camp activities or retreats in the future. The school’s grounds and surroundings, with its pine forests and wooden tracks, allow for a variety of outdoor sports and activities, Harjula continues.
In the vicinity of the school you can find e.g. barbecue hut and soccer field. In the winter, you can go ice skating in the area and the ski tracks start directly from the yard.
-If there are keen cyclists among the guests, we have also rented the family’s fatbikes for a small fee, Harjula comments.
Active business cooperation in Kinnula
Kinnula’s tourism entrepreneurs in the region cooperate exceptionally strongly with each other in organizing various tourism services. The entrepreneurs have organized themselves into their own Syvänmaa tourism association in order to further develop tourism activities in the region. New entrepreneurs who have entered the field have also been welcomed with joy, and cooperation will continue to be developed and increased.