More than 100 years…
Colourful history of Iloranta
The first guests to Rukkoila arrived in the summer of 1937, when the village was the location of filming a movie ”Niskavuoren naiset”. The film crew stayed in the village houses. Mrs. Elin Iloranta and her household took care of the wellbeing of these guests.
For a farmer’s wife in Häme, waiting on guests for money was a new experience and felt strange at the beginning. The ingredients for the hearty, genuine Hauho meals came from the farm’s own fields, vegetable gardens, forests, pastures and barns. The skills of the women could thus bring extra income to the farm. That summer started a new chapter in the history of Iloranta, for after that the guests kept coming summer after summer. Iloranta had become a summertime boarding house, and Elin, now widowed, had become an entrepreneur.
Annikki and Armas Iloranta took charge of the farm and the boarding house in 1945. In 1978, Iloranta was passed on to the next generation, Leena and Mikko.
Currently Iloranta guests are hosted by the fourth generation, in the hands of Samu Lescelius.
For over 80 years the people of Iloranta have been taking care of guests from the city. Every summer we’ve been cooking, frying, baking, smoking, drying and making jam. With joy we have made delicious meals to serve our expected visitors. The guests returned year after year, each of them had their own favourite room, some even had their favourite table in the dining room. Some of the guests stayed for the whole summer, some for a few weeks, nowadays they stay for a week or a weekend, but several times a year.
We want to warmly welcome you to Iloranta, to enjoy the local delicacies, the peace and quiet of the countryside, and the Finnish nature.
