Life was full of work, but still good.
Kovero's daughters reminisce
Kovero Heritage Farm is an old crown tenant farm
Kovero is a nationally significant cultural area. During the farm's heyday during the first decades of the 1900s Ananias Kovero and his family lived on the farm. Life was full of work, but still good, as was later told by the Kovero daughters. Nowadays, Kovero Farm is part of the cultural landscape area of the Seitseminen National Park, and it has been restored to match the conditions of 1927-1941 and horse-based agriculture at that time. The estate consists of old and in parts original structures including the farmhouse, a bakery as well as shelters for horses and grain. The oldest building on the grounds these days is the bakery which is from the 1870s. Construction of the magnificent main house began in 1881. The massive logs which the walls are constructed of were hand-carved. In the place of other buildings which have once stood on the estate, but have gotten destroyed over the course of time, such as the magazine, the shed and the drying barn, Metsähallitus has gotten replica's from the surrounding area and placed them where their original counterparts once stood. Many old spices and medicinal and ornamental plants thrive on the grounds: wild tobacco, common hop, lovage and roses. The main house is adorned with balsams and geraniums.
Sheep graze in the meadows near the croft in important work. They manage Kovero's endangered traditional habitat, the semi-natural grassland. Visitors may go to greet the farm's animals. Animals should be approached calmly, while chatting to them quietly so that they do not frighten. Visitors may feed the animals by plucking a bunch of grass for them from beside the fence. Feeding anything else to animals is forbidden to ensure their safety and well-being.
Opening hours and location
Opening hours in 2025
- 29th of May to 31st of August Thu-Sun 11 am to 5 pm.
Visiting the farm is free-of-charge.
Location
Kovero Heritage Farm is in the Seitsemisen National Park
Address: Seitsemisentie 948, 39450 Ikaalinen
Services
- At the parking area there is an accessible dry toilet, a well and picnic tables.
- It is possible to look around the grounds from a wheelchair, but it is difficult to get into some of the farm's buildings due to their high stone foundations and steps.
- There is a Koverolampi campfire site near the heritage farm.
- Kovero is the starting point of several hiking trails.
Guided tours and events
Guided tours for groups
Groups can book guided tours from our our partner entrepreneurs.
Events
Guests are welcome to follow the everyday chores of the house and participate in events and work demonstrations, which can be found on the Seitseminen National Park What´s new.
History
Matti Juhanpoika established the Kovero
Around the mid 1800s a farmhand from the Nisula estate, named Matti Juhanpoika arrived in the Juhtimäki wilderness looking for a suitable place to set up a farm for his family. The young family found the Kovero area to be pleasant and right away a bit of field was cleared and a sauna, a barn for sheep, a barn for cows and the largest building the drying barn were built. The farm's lease was also put in order and so Kovero became a crown tenant farm, a rented farm on state-owned land. The family paid rent by either gaving a part of their harvest or with labour.
Matti's and Severiina's first son Nija was worn down by a lung illness and running the farm became overwhelming for the rest of the family. In 1878 the farm was sold to Matti Esaianpoika Liesijärvi. He adopted the house's name Kovero as his surname.
In Matti Kovero's time, forest workers were accommodated in the house
According to word of mouth Matti Kovero was a strong man. Together with his wife Anna and their children he worked the rented land. The fields and meadows grew in size and a new grand farmhouse was built, but the family still did odd jobs to earn additional income: logging work and offering lodging to travelling workmen. The area's forested parts were often called forestry's promised land. The income offered by logging brought timber jacks from far and wide to the area. Lodging was in great demand and the men often stayed in local homes.
Kovero became an independent farm
In 1902 Matti handed the farm over to his son Ananiaa. Niia and his young bride Aleksiina started to run the farm, Matti and Anna were set for life: as when they retired they stayed at Kovero. According to the retirement agreement made, Matti and Anna were entitled to live in backroom of the main house, to keep a few cattle and to get things such as meat and shoes from the house.
Niia and Aleksiina were blessed with seven daughters and one son. Their son, however, lived only a few months and one of their daughters died when she was 10 years old. Aleksiina died of "her lungs withering" in the winter of 1925. On top of logging work and farming the fields Niia was left to deal with taking care of the livestock, household chores and caring for the youngest children. A new wife was more than needed. With the help of a speaker a need marriage was arranged and so Aliina and Niia were wed in 1926.
When the farming act was legislated in 1923, farmers began to purchase estates for themselves. Independence was considered at Kovero as well, but due to land surveys and appeals becoming drawn out the purchase was delayed until 1931.
Wartime had little effect on Kovero, as no one from it joined the draft. The death of Matti, Niia's father, caused great sorrow during the interim peace, but his daughters' weddings in turn great brought joy to the estate. The younger daughter's wedding was celebrated on Pentecost in 1946. Even though times were tough after the war the tables were laden with food and not even the thirst of four hundred guests emptied the beer barrels.
Kovero's heyday, however, came to an end during the wars. The farming boom after the wars had little effect on the lives of those at Kovero: the estate did not begin to use electricity and the fields were not drained with ditches. Upkeep of the farm which was dwindling came to a complete halt when Niia died in 1952.
Kovero was transferred back to the state
The farm's fields and buildings were sold to the state in 1970. The fields were reforested and the buildings were left abandoned. When Seitseminen National Park was established in 1982 Kovero was annexed to the national park. In the national park's framework Kovero Crown Tenant Farm was appointed a cultural landscape (metsa.fi). The farm's buildings and fields, as well as the surrounding meadows and forests form a valuable man-made heritage landscape, the conservation of which has been ensured by appointing it one of the park's sights. The farm was restored as precisely as possible to resemble a 1930's farm and is maintained by traditional methods. The heritage landscape, which was born due keeping of cattle and cultivation of the land, are maintained by grazing: during summer cows indigenous to Finland wander in the farm's pastures and meadows. In addition to conservation of buildings and nature one of the main objectives of Kovero is to tell of life in the olden days.
