The magic of Octola, Lapland: In conversation with founder Janne Honkanen

Dawn breaks over the private wilderness

A VISION BORN IN LAPLAND

For Janne Honkanen, Octola’s story is closely tied to his own.

During a recent visit to Finnish Lapland, Winged Boots Head of Creative Gary Gumbleton sat down with the founder of Octola Private Wilderness to talk about the experiences that shaped the retreat, the landscape around it and why Lapland continues to surprise him throughout the year.
Gary begins by asking Janne about Octola’s beginnings.

Janne grew up in Lapland, raced snowmobiles and later became a professional racing driver. He tells Gary about a serious accident in North America, in which he broke his back, hip and heel. Later, he also had a brain tumour and, as he puts it, “needed to learn to live the life again”. It was during this period that his relationship with the landscape around him took on a deeper meaning. “I found also that the forest has a healing power for the body and mind”.

Janne also felt there was a lack of high level accommodation in the region. Initially, though, he was searching for somewhere for himself.

Gary: “So you were looking for a property for you, or a property for a destination?”

Janne: “Ideally, I was looking for a property for myself.”

He looked at several different locations before finding the place that would eventually become Octola. “Once I found this place, I felt immediately something click, that I need to take our guests here”. That feels important to understanding Octola. The property was not simply chosen as a setting for a retreat. Janne found somewhere that resonated with him personally and decided he wanted other people to experience it too.

The land itself has a much longer story. Janne tells Gary that a little over 8,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, the site was an island within a lake. Today, it forms part of a vast tundra in Finnish Lapland, above the Arctic Circle. On the precise location, however, Janne is deliberately vague.

Gary: “Where is Octola based?”
Janne: “Octola is based in Finnish Lapland, above the Arctic Circle. But we keep the exact location discreet and exclusive”.

Winter morning over Octola Private Wilderness

A SUPERYACHT UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

When Gary asks Janne how he would describe Octola to somebody who has never heard of it, he reaches for a comparison that says rather a lot: “I like to use the metaphor that Octola is like a superyacht sailing under the Northern Lights”. By this, Janne means having the service, privacy and freedom of a superyacht, only your playground is more than 700 hectares of private wilderness.

There are snowmobiles, ATVs, huskies and reindeer, tens of kilometres of private trails and more than 200 reindeer across the wider setting, some of which guests can pet and feed. As Janne puts it, you have “all the toys”, but still retain “utmost privacy and freedom”. It 's an appealing combination at any time of year, but there is something about Christmas that makes having this much space to yourself feel particularly special. There are no crowds gathering around the best view, no queue for the next activity and no great rush to be anywhere. You have your own little world beneath the Northern Lights.

So, with all that at your disposal, Gary asks the obvious question: if you only had 24 hours at Octola, what should you do? Janne’s answer is perhaps not quite what you would expect.

“No programme is the best programme”.

What he means is that arriving at Octola should feel like arriving home. Rather than immediately filling the day, he encourages guests to settle in, take in the landscape and give themselves room to breathe.

There are adventures waiting whenever you want them. The point is that they can wait.

A room with a view

STEP INSIDE THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Of course, standing around admiring the scenery will only get you so far. The first snow usually arrives in October, Janne tells Gary, and by November and December the winter adventures are well underway. At Octola, that might mean setting off through the forest by snowmobile, following cross country ski trails through the landscape or spending time with the reindeer, feeding them by hand rather than merely watching from afar.

There is a rare smoke sauna too, a tradition with deep roots in Finnish life and a particularly welcome prospect after a day outside in Arctic temperatures. Yet the charm of Christmas here comes from being able to move between those bigger adventures and wonderfully simple moments. Race through the snow in the morning, then come home and warm up. Head outside after dark to look for the Northern Lights, or stay put and see whether they come to you. Fill the day if you want to. Leave it completely open if you don't.

That is what Janne’s “no programme is the best programme” philosophy really gets at. The magic does not need to be endlessly arranged for you because so much of it is already happening outside. Sometimes, you just need enough time to notice.

Our Head of Customer Experience, Claire Baker, keeping warm on her trip to Octola

THE MAGIC IN EVERY SEASON

There is something rather lovely about hearing Janne talk about Lapland because, despite growing up here, he does not sound remotely used to it. When Gary asks about the best time to visit, Janne moves happily from one month to another, finding something he loves in almost every one.

He talks about ice fishing in spring, salmon beneath the midnight sun, gathering blueberries and cloudberries in summer and skating across frozen forest lakes as autumn turns to winter. In fact, he tells Gary that Lapland does not really have one, two or even three seasons, but several, each bringing a different relationship with the landscape.

Perhaps that ability to remain impressed by your surroundings tells us more about Octola than any list of experiences could. And while Janne clearly finds something to love throughout the year, there is one season that feels particularly personal.

“I was born in December. I am a big fan of Christmas”.

Living area at Octola II lodge

WINTER BLUES (BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW THEM)

Christmas has a habit of becoming more complicated as we get older. There are presents to find, plans to coordinate and an ever growing list of things that need to happen before the magic can supposedly begin. At Octola, much of that falls away.

You are above the Arctic Circle, somewhere Janne deliberately keeps discreet, surrounded by hundreds of hectares of private wilderness. And when he talks about November and December, his description of Lapland starts sounding suspiciously like a storybook.

These months are sometimes imagined as a time of complete darkness above the Arctic Circle, but Janne describes something altogether more beautiful. The sun may not rise in the conventional sense, but the landscape enters what he calls the “blue moment”, when the snow, forest and sky seem washed in shades of blue. His comparison needs little embellishment: “It’s like Disney in real life”. He goes on to describe it as something “from [a] fairytale book”.

And suddenly the idea behind 'believing is seeing' starts to make perfect sense. Growing up teaches us to know better. Reindeer don't wander through enchanted forests. Skies aren't supposed to turn impossible shades of blue. Snowy forests belong in Christmas films and fairytales, along with all the other things we stopped believing in somewhere along the way.

Then you come to Lapland.

Here, where more than 200 reindeer roam the wider setting, snow hangs heavily from the trees, Arctic light turns the landscape blue and, when conditions are right, the Northern Lights move overhead; reality is doing a remarkably good impression of the Christmas stories.

Maybe believing again is not about pretending Santa is on his way. Maybe it is simply about finding somewhere that makes you wonder, just for a moment, whether he might be.

Step inside Octola Private Wilderness, Finland's most exclusive lodge for your next read.

Or, are you ready to believe in the magic of Christmas again? Speak with our expert team of Personal Travel Managers on 0203 816 0985 or submit an online enquiry today, and we'll turn believing into seeing, with some real luxury.