Manor with orchard

Now that we no longer have the old garden with many apple trees we have made sure to see plenty of apple blossoms in other gardens. This season the blooming has been more abundant than in decades, they say. Late last week, we drove to the Kakskerta island to have a walk in the orchard of the Brinkhall Manor to witness that firsthand.

As you can see from the photos, we certainly got more than our fair share of wonderfully flowering apple trees.

The history of Brinkhall dates back to the 16th century. The present manor house was built in the 1790s but the interior was modernised and renovated in neoclassical style in the 1920s. Later in the 20th century, the place was unoccupied for several decades until it was rediscovered as the setting for a popular historical TV series Hovimäki that was filmed there in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Since then Brinkhall has been owned by a cultural heritage foundation. The place is operating only in the summertime, which in our part of the world means from June to late August. During the latest winter season, the interior of the main building underwent careful restoration now offering an improved venue for events, art exhibitions, concerts, etc. The summer café in one of the annexes will also open on June 1.

Last summer, we saw a couple of art exhibitions and attended a concert on classical guitar – one of our absolute favourite musical genres – at Brinkhall. We will definitely keep returning to this lovely setting located between a lake and a strait with a cottage for rent on the shores of both. I will post more about the buildings and grounds of the estate including the English garden as soon as we have explored them properly.