Helena-Reet: Vacation (vol 2) – Ruudiküla in Viljandi (Estonia)
NordenBladet – It is 8 km from Viljandi to Ruudiküla and somewhere in the middle there should be the notorious Ärma. It may be that my exact data concerning this place are somewhat insufficient, and yet, to be honest with you, I have not bothered to dig deeper into the issue and find out.
On our way from Viljandi city centre to Ruudiküla village we were joking with my sister that we could stay for the night in Ärma farmhouse (Ärma tourist farm belongs to the super active Twitter scribbler Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the president of Estonia during the years 2006-2016 and even today his Twitter account directs the reader swiftly to president.ee web page). There have been, on the local scale, enormous sums been involved in managing and advertising the place as a tourist farm… May it be located somewhere on our darling road to Ruudiküla or some place else, the fact is that you won’t find a tourist farm that is open for the common guest and the common visitor has no business near that site.
Actually, my concern for this issue stands next to nothing. Although I have no direct and personal connections with our former president, it has been the impression of him and his ex-wife Evelin that they are rather insolent and uppish people.
Possibly I am now doing injustice to the neighbour, but it simply is this gut feeling, the common insignificant average Estonian person’s gut feeling. Mr Ilves certainly is smart and has taken numerous useful steps on behalf of the country, yet it is this silent arrogant chewing-gum chewing impression that accumulates foes rather than friends. Similarly the ex-wife Mrs Evelin Ilves is more of a semi-educated self-exposing fribble than a genuine spokesperson.
On the other hand, the new Mrs Ilves is personally for me very sypathetic and leaves the impression of a lady. However, it is none of these three people that I wish to go on speaking about this very moment. I digressed. Totally. And it is my wish to see the positive, not the negative things around me, yet I tend to be the smarty-pants and also tend to focus on faults. When do I learn from my own mistakes?!
So let me continue! Viljandi, Ruudiküla used to be the home of my grand uncle Peter from dad’s line. There we used to spend time when we were young and the place is very close to the heart. The place was underprivileged and at that time also far away from the town, yet grandmother used to tell sweet stories that seemed to turn this place into a wonderland for me. Silgutare (Herring Hut) or nowadays known as Päeva-Pilli (Day-Tune’s) is not far from a wierd-named place Koerakuse (dog piss) spring – we used to go swimming there when we were children. It is a horrible place – full of leeches, but what do you do about it when it is a beautiful childhood memory of yours. The nature there is wild, we stopped the car to see a little goat find its way across the street. Also we noticed a duck family on the river and friendly cows in the next farm. I do love animals! They warm the heart, and so do children! I guess kids and pets have a very similar energy – pure, true, friendly and sweet! Silgutare has been sold more that ten years ago to a woman from Finland, who lives in Finland and visits Estonia seldom.
We contacted the owner and inquired about her plans with the place that she bought years ago. It is a pity to see that the place is falling apart and that ancient majestic trees are cut and used for heating. The place arises old warm feelings in me – in a way it is awkward to see modern buildings and plantations rising in the vicinity, and at the same time this old place is perishing. My grandparents hid themselves for ten years under that farmhouse and in the woods nearby at times of war. The house today is of no value actually – an old shed hardly standing, but the bushes and these ancient trees! These have been planted long ago by my ancestors and it is sad to have them chopped down for heating of Midsummer’s bonfire. The place has a story to tell – for us. I hold that the trees have certain energy, a memory. The nature sees and it remembers!
We took a tour in Ruudiküla and then headed towards Mustla… I know I have earlier promised in this post a story about Holstre, Paistu, Mustla and the ghosts – all this will be right in the next blog!
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PS!! When I returned home I checked out where exactly this Ärma tourist farm is located.
Wikipedia states the following (translation from Estonian):
Ärma countryhouse (also: president’s residence) is a real estate in Viljandi county, Abja municipality, Veskimäe village, a few kilometres from Abja-Paluoja. The house belongs to the Ilves family and dates back to 1763. The real estate is entered in the register with registration number 145039. The real estate has arable land and forest land altogether 80,1 hectars. The farm territory is 82 hectars. The owner of Ärma country house (with the previously stated address) is president Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Ärma countryhouse is rented out to private limited company Ermamaa (entered in the registry 18.01.2005, registration number 11097847), where the member of board is Evelin Ilves and the place is named Ärma tourist farm. Since 2006 it was in use as the president’s residence, for hosting foreign guests and as a stopping point for president Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
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