Moomin Madness

“There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes”

Who else likes The Moomins? Bizarrely, of late, I’ve come across a surprising amount of people who don’t know who they are! (How?!) So i thought it would be a good blog post to write

The Moomins came into my life when I was a young teen and there was the Japanese cartoon on TV based on their stories and I thought they were adorable. They didn’t come back into my life until about 15 years ago though. I always remembered them, but it wasn’t until i started dating my chap that they became a big part of my life. Because interestingly my guy is also a big fan of the Moomins and their Finnish creator Tove Jansson. He had a few of the books and mentioned them to me one day and suggested i read the books. He also mentioned the other books Jansson had written particularly The Winter Book and the Summer Book.

on our bookshelf

Jansson started painting the Moomins back in 1935, but the first story didn’t appear until 10 years later and the first Engllish translation occured in 1948.

The Moomins have huge appeal to kids; they’re sweet, loveable characters who go on lovely adventures with their friends. From an adult perspective you can see the morals and lesson interweaved into the stories . Also there is the strong emphasis on respecting and living in harmony with nature.

The Moomins core values are of love, tolerance and adventure which speak very loudly to me and my own personal philosophy.

Over the years the Moomins started to crop up again in the UK. They are known worldwide and Tove Jansson’s books have been translated into over 50 languages. Nowadays you will find Moomins everywhere, including the various dedicated Moomin shops! (I may have just purchased a pair of Moomin PJ’s recently from the official website)

In 2017 I celebrated my 40th birthday and I expressed a desire to go abroad, we don’t often go abroad partly for a long time we would look after my partners son during school holiday plus I had anxiety issues.

My partner was surprised when I said i would like to go to Finland, because in the UK is an unusual holiday destination. But i also have a love of Finnish design and jewellery. Plus it meant we could also book in a day to visit Moomin World! My birthday is in Spring, so we held off til June when the weather in Finland is warm! We booked a few days in Helsinki and then caught one of the amazing double decker trains to the historical city of Turku (the old capital) for a few days stay then back to Helsinki for the rest of the break.

Moomin World was just an absolute joy to visit. You arrive by crossing over a causeway to the little island that Moomin World is situated on. When we visited we were very lucky to have superb weather, so we were able to enjoy all that the island had to offer .

We followed the Moomin World map around the utterly charming island and visited all the destinations for each character and their houses,which included parks, crafting areas, food courts and the shop!

It was outside the Moominhouse where the various characters from the story’s came out to greet you. One of the most delightful things was watching the small children being overwhelmed by seeing their favourite characters in the flesh and hugging their legs-i could have stayed there most the day!

We also got to meet our fave characters, I got my selfie with Snorkmaiden and my chap got a picture with his fave Moomin called Snork (the intellectual one!) and Pappa.

The inside of the Moomin House was decorated so lovely, each room designed around the characters and the books.

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As you explored the island you came across more wonders-a ship shaped playground, a jetty with Edward the Booble and a giant telescope!

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I loved the dark spooky cave full of glowing hattifatteners and the Groke! There’s a wonderful forest park full of hammocks and beanbags where you can chill for a while and tree shaped story booths.

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We also found the beach and relaxed there for a while.

On TripAdvisor there are a couple of reviews complaining about the lack of fairground rides!

But Moomin World is not Disney and it never should be. It’s a truly magical and beautiful park for children to exercise their imagination and be at one with nature, whilst interacting with their favourite Moomin characters! Moomin World truly encompasses all that is Moomin!

Genuinely, one of my best and happiest days ever.

So if you’re not familiar with the world of the Moomins, then I would highly recommend checking them out!

And the final thing is….which Moomin character are you?