How to rent a summer cottage?

[EP]

Only issue was it was not very "landscaped" when we stayed there.

Well, Finnish cottages usually are not "landscaped" at all. If they were, they would not be "mökki" any more. They are just built in the forest, and forest can be the way it is.

[Hank W.]

Well, but if they were building a new one next door I was more expecting piles and piles of... you know "old stuff" scattered... hrmpf... we're *not* talking of my cottage...

[raamv]

hmmm cant really provide soo much information in this forum as I can point you to a summer cottage in Espoo or Kirkkonummi or tammisaari or Hanko or in Inari!!
( exorbitant rent as it is still the capital area)
What are you looking for? Do you know how big Finland is and how many lakes there are? We live here, so yes.

How are you planning to travel to the summer cottage? Car, train, plane, walk or bicycle!! Most likely our car
how much are you willing to spend ( prices vary from a few hundred a week to a few hundred a day)?Our budget is most likely 1000€ for the week
Get a guide of Finland, pick an area and then start asking for help. this might help us to see which areas are good!!Since this is our first summer looking for a cottage, we were leaving the options wide open. We don't want to go all the way up into Lapland, but traveling 4 or 5 hours would not be a big deal either. Mostly, we were hoping that word of mouth would help us find our best options.
Summer is the peak season for nature tourists and cottages in Lapland are pretty much booked throughout!.

I have visited many, many, many websites so far, but by far, the best options would come from someone who has already been there, done that, and could show the WHOLE picture, not just the one offered by the company.

You are in Finland..wheres second hand knowledge comes by hard!! If you already didnt know that!!
Unless you are specific you aint gonna a foot-by-foot description of like Yellowstone..
Your budget points to the Area near Tampere where they have lots of summer cottages near lakes..
I know some near the vammala area ( Summer cottage near lakes, vammala downtown for entertainement and a taxi ride back)

[mikebrads]

Only issue was it was not very "landscaped" when we stayed there.

Well, Finnish cottages usually are not "landscaped" at all. If they were, they would not be "mökki" any more. They are just built in the forest, and forest can be the way it is.

True
what i meant was that the yard area, and most of the land down to the lake was mostly gravel, rather than grass/plants natural area. This seems to be the norm for very new mökki, that i have stayed at over the past few years.
i am not expecting an English country garden lawn, but...