I am a little late with this greeting but the sentiment still applies to guests old and new.

We are just getting back into the saddle here at East Jordeston after our family holiday where we spent a wonderful Christmas in Finnish Lapland. It was a milestone wedding anniversary for Phil and I at Christmas 2009 (30 years – Yikes!) so we left our very good friend, Phil, ‘cottage sitting’ and flew off to snowy climes.

The Finns welcome the snow which brightens the long dark days of winter and this year it has come down in bumper bucket loads! With studded tyres on our car, it was no problem to drive the 15 hours from Helsinki overnight through blizzards and snow clad roads, to our holiday cottage well inside the Arctic circle. It was a magical journey of mile after mile of beautiful snow laden trees with the fine ‘diamond dust’ billowing around as we journeyed northwards.

Little did we know that while we were enjoying temperatures of -28 degrees and beautiful powdery snow in Finland, the whole of the UK was being plunged into lingering minus temperatures too and along with the snow came the chaos of getting around! Arriving back home we found ourselves (even in usually mild Pembrokeshire) marooned for a few days, unable to get our car out of our icy lane.

The snow is now melting and things are getting back to normal but it’s nice to have the rare occasion to post some snowy shots of our cottages – thank you Phil!