Klovharu - Tove Jansson’s Island - www.moominmania.co.uk

Yesterday, I was doing some last minute searching for information about Tove Jansson’s island Klovharu/Haru and I found some contact details for someone who organises it and asked when it is open to the public. For anyone who doesn’t know, Tove and Lars (her brother) built a house on the island of Klovharu which is off the coast of Porvoo in the Pellinki archipelago. She and Tuulikki Pietilä lived there for almost thirty years. For Finnish and Swedish readers, information is available in Tove’s book Anteckningar från en ö (Notes From an Island), published in 1996. The Summer Book (Sommarboken) gives us more information about what it is like to live on an island, and is definitely worth the read (as are all of Jansson’s pieces).

For more information, visit http://www.moomin.com/tove/eng/saari.html. Furthermore, you can buy the DVD Haru: Island of the Solitary from Lumifilm - I would recommend getting the pack with two DVDs in, as you can also see Tove and Tooti’s trip around the world - and yes, there are English subtitles! Here is a video that has been uploaded to YouTube of the island:

So, as you can see, it is definitely a place to visit for any Tove Jansson fan. I only recently discovered that you can actually visit the island, so I have been searching for months for information. Today, I got an email letting me know that it is only open from July 14th until the 21st, with boat trips leaving from Benita’s café in Pellinge on the 14th, 15th and 19th. Unfortunately, this means I’m unable to visit this year because I’m only in Finland from July 27th-August 3rd, but there will be many other opportunities for me to go.
Contact Peter Holstrom on pho@welho.com for more information.