If someone had asked me a few years ago where I’d be and what I’d be doing in 2026, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten it right. I had a permanent job as a teacher of Finnish in a fairly large city. I liked my job, and from what I understand, I was pretty decent at it. “Lively and cheerful,” one of my students wrote in a feedback form. The work community was simply wonderful.
The idea of Impiö began to take root in a quiet corner of my heart about ten years ago, when my uncle, who owned Mattila at the time, started more or less straightforwardly hinting that “you’ll be the next owner of this house, right?” At first, I just laughed those remarks off, but the seed had been planted. I found myself more and more often daydreaming about all the things I could do in Impiö. My roots began to pull me toward Ranua and Impiö.
But the time wasn’t right back then. There were many things in life that shut the idea down as impossible.
But time passes. Situations change. And then the moment came when all the pieces suddenly just fell into place.
I, a humanities graduate who had spent my entire working life in the public sector teaching, bought my mother’s childhood home and threw myself into entrepreneurship alone. Straight into the deep end without floaties. Well, that’s not entirely true. My floaties were and are my sisters, along with old friends and new ones I’ve met along this new life path, who have cheered me on, helped, supported, guided, and encouraged me. They believed in me. And made me believe that I really will stay afloat. And if I do start to sink, there are hands remarkably close by ready to pull me back up.
Mattilan talo. Bed and breakfast in Ranua, in the village of Impiö.
My mother’s birthplace, the wonderful grandparents’ house for me and dozens of my cousins. A house I was able to call home during the most important years of my youth, when I grew roots into the rich soil of the village of Impiö. Now it is my home again. And my guesthouse.
One of my secret dreams in past years was specifically to run a guesthouse—after all, Mattila has rooms and space. Quite generously so for someone living alone, some might say. I’ve been able to build my very own Mattilan talo. I offer accommodation and breakfast in my own style, in a way that comes naturally to me. I want guests to feel that this is a genuinely personal and unique guesthouse, where nothing is forced and no one is trying to be something they are not. A warm and relaxed atmosphere lowers the pulse raised by everyday rush and gives you a chance to set unnecessary burdens aside, at least for a moment.
This kind of gradual pace is possible because I can also work for the municipality of Ranua, making use of the professional skills I gained in my previous life. I teach Finnish to immigrants in Ranua, both children and adults. I run a Friends’ Nest club that is open to all adults, and in the autumn something interesting and much requested for local entrepreneurs is on the way.
That’s fortunate. It’s also the reason why the booking calendar for Mattilan talo has a rather peculiar number of blocked-off Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On those days I’m working in the center of Ranua. Still, it’s always worth getting in touch and asking about accommodation possibilities on those days too: with a bit of juggling and arranging, many things have worked out before. “It’s never so that it somehow wouldn’t work out,” as Grandpa Matti used to say. Ranua-style optimism at its purest!
Even though along this incredible journey there have been all kinds of bumps and setbacks alongside joyful successes and encounters, deep down I am unbelievably happy. I’ve heard it shows on the outside, too. Come and see for yourself —just click the booking calendar and reserve a relaxing Mattila holiday for yourself and your loved ones! Let’s smile when we meet!
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