The Bog Cottage of Rehesaare - Experiencing Simple Life in Wilderness

The bog cottage of Rehesaare - ideal place to enjoy yourself in wilderness.

The cottage is surrounded with wild forests, ancient bogs, and mires meant for activities such as hiking or berry-picking. There are no official overcrowded hiking trails with boardwalks and bored walks but plenty of animal trails, winter tracks and routes that are rarely taken. So, get off the beaten path and come experience something wholly original – experience the real landscape of the Estonian wetlands.

Situated in the Laeva bog, Alam-Pedja nature reserve.
Reachable only by foot which takes around 45 min since the distance from the nearest road is ca 3 kilometres.

The Bog Cottage of Rehesaare is a simple log house with a built-in sauna. It’s literally located in the-middle-of-nowhere, so there are no modern facilities or noisy neighbours nearby, only you and your thoughts amidst the diverse nature of the wetlands. If you are patient, silent and lucky enough, chances are you’ll meet the only local inhabitants – perhaps a moose, a roe deer, a wild boar, a brown bear or other such mammals who are probably more afraid of you than you are of them.

Rehesaare – a place where you can enjoy being-in-the-world and (re)learning the simple things that have all but sunk into the past. Experiences like:

● chopping firewood
● lighting a fire
● cooking/grilling on a campfire
● heating a sauna
● heating your body in a sauna
● sitting in silence
● listening to silence
● sitting in the candlelight
● thinking that when you get back to civilization, you’ll read that book, or write that thing, or learn that skill
● looking at the starry night and searching for the Nordic star
● being yourself

Come as you are and perhaps leave a little bit better.


Whole space for guests, other important things to note:

Drinking water. 
No well on site, take drinking water with you. Fresh water for washing can be obtained from the pond. Pond water is clean (comes from the swamp) and can also be used for drinking-cooking, preferably boiled.

Heating. 
Firewood is available on site, usually prepared from the last visitors.On site bow saw and ax. Behind the spruce hedge and near the pond, if you look around, you'll find a few piles of willow branches. These are currently the most appropriate option for heating, next the forest-dry spruce and aspen logs, which are prepared for visitors.

There are two fireplaces in the cottage, sauna stove and a small iron fireplace with the cooking plate. When heating the sauna stove, the air supply can be regulated with an ash hatch, keeping it open for up to 5 cm while heating. You can push it a little later, The iron fireplace has two doors: a small front door and a large side door. Only add wood from the front door. However, at the beginning of the heating, I recommend keeping the side door slightly (up to 1 cm) open for better air access. It can also be left open later for stronger fire if cooking, Campfire site is in front of the cottage, also applicable for cooking-grilling.

Lighting.
No guaranteed stock of candles on site, take necessary stock with you. 

Dishes.
There is more or less a choice of plates / mugs on the spot, A couple of pans, a 3-liter cast iron pot, one liter cooker, grill. 

Sleeping. 
There are two ordinary bed mattresses and two 5 cm thick foam mats available. Large wool blanket. No laundry.

Sauna. 
The water you get from the pond. It's brown and it feels slippery when washing but it is definitely clean and fresh. There is a water tank attached to the sauna stove, which I recommend more or less to bring full, because then the effect of warming of water is bigger. There is no sauna towels on site. A couple of washbasins, soap, shampoo on site. In the steam room you can get 70-80 degrees, after ca 2 hours of heating, depending on outside temperature. The right steam in Rehesaare sauna is a wet steam, so I recommend throwing the steam water on the sauna stove plenty enough. 

Privacy. 
The likelihood of someone getting into Rehesaare just in your presence is low, but not non-existent. If there is someone just walking in during the day and wants to rest, then it might not be a problem. But if there is someone in good faith who would like to stay overnight, it is not possible without your permission, since the place is solely yours. If there's really a problem with this, call me and I'll intervene.

FB-account. 
The cottage also has a Facebook account (in Estonian) Keyword: Refuugium.

Some more guidelines:

Rehesaare bog cottage was created to just hang around. In order for both you and others to be happy and peaceful there, one should bear in mind the following:

- Tidiness. A very simple rule – when you leave, leave the cottage behind in a better condition than you first encountered it in.

- Food and drink. Generally, I do not recommend to leave your leftover food behind. I can not impede you from doing it though. If you really wish to do so, make sure the food is sealed in a mouse-proof bag and do not leave behind foods that spoil fast.

- Empty bottles and rubbish A simple rule – Everything you have managed to carry along with you, you will be able to take back home again. On-site waste management should be wise: organic waste under the shrubs, paper and carton can be burned, packaging, containers etc. should leave the site along with you.

- Fire safety. Only burn candles under supervision and using a fireproof holder. Heat up the sauna stove in a moderate manner.

- Fume. There is no smoke detector in the cottage because it would activate unnecessarily while using the fireplace. Therefore – only fall asleep once you have put out all the candles and made sure that the fireplace is in a safe state. The sauna stove chimney damper should preferably be left open after heating.

- Firewood. If you have used the stove or the fireplace please make sure that the next guest will also have some wood and something to start the fire with. Right now you can still find some suitable materials for fire from the vicinity of the cottage, use some peasant wisdom and an ax.

- Water. You can get water to consume from the pond. It is also suitable for drinking, but should be boiled first. When leaving, it is advisable to rinse and empty the water containers so that the next sauna guest could also enjoy both the fresh bog water and carrying it. Be sure to empty up the containers during a cold season - they'll freeze!

- Outhouse. Once you have relieved yourself, be sure to throw some dust from the green container into the toilet, as per usual in eco-outhouses.

- Work. If you wish, you can do some work suitable to you: prepare firewood, mow a little with the scythe. Do as much as you can or want to.

- Those with and around us. You might come across a viper near the cottage. Vipers are also god's creatures so try not to harm them. Please carefully usher out any butterflies found in the cottage and do not disturb the bats living under the roofs at the ends of the cottage.

- Last but not least. The Rehesaare bog cottage can be used freely but it should be looked at as a one man's idea rather than a recreational object. Accommodation in Rehesaare is only possible via prior arrangement and is chargeable.

Enjoy your stay in Rehesaare!

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