ESSENTIALS

of year some of the berries are hard to come by and are stored from more fruitful summer months.

Though this is not a Northern Lights trip as such, there are always opportunities to spot the aurora borealis and after dinner we are told to wait on standby; the clouds have been shifting and they are expecting a sighting. Sure enough at midnight we receive a call telling us to get out of bed, quickly. The hotel guide meets us outside the hotel and hands us head torches and snowshoes for the hike to the lookout spot.

I look up eagerly into the sky, yet all I can see is the familiar darkness. I’ve been warned not to hold out hope for the lights – they move in their own unpredictable ways. Our guide heads inside the tepee to make warming hot chocolates while we keep our eyes glued to the skyline.

And then, slowly at first, strips of faint green light begin to part the heavy clouds. Our guide tells us to look at the sky through our camera lens. The colours that we could see previously are now amplified 10 times and we can see bolts of vibrant green and bright orange soaring across dark forested sky like arctic fireworks. Within 10 minutes they fade again, darkness reappears and our encounter with the aurora borealis is over.

Though this wilderness hotel is a winter paradise for the guests, it is also a rigorous training camp for the 25 huskies that live here, and the following morning we try our hand at mushing. Each person is allocated their own team of dogs; the more dogs the stronger the pack, but the harder they are to control. Having Discover the World (01737 886131; discover-the-world. co.uk) is offering a fournight Beana Laponia Winter Hideaway package from £2,166 per person full-board, based on two people sharing a Beana Room. The price includes return flights, airport transfers, all winter clothing, free use of the toboggans, snowshoes and kick sledges, all excursions (dog mushing, husky safari, snowmobile safari, northern light snow shoeing, reindeer visit and a private session in the sauna and hot tub). never tried this before, I’m allocated three frisky dogs, though after a couple of stationary hill starts, our guide quickly ups it to four to give a little extra dog-power. My sled winds niftily between the pathway of spindly trees and I can see the morning sunlight dancing between the snow-covered branches.

We stop for a campfire lunch of reindeer soup, toasted sausages and warm berry juice. Our guide explains that these camping stations are positioned along the mushing routes throughout Finland in order to give riders a place to stop, eat and rest. When we are fully refuelled we begin the 25-mile (40km) route back to the hotel for some well-earned rest (more so for the huskies than for us).

The next day, Leo leads us back outside to demonstrate some of his snowmobiling skills. For us, this is an exciting adventure, but for Leo, this is a practical means of transport during the winter. The snowmobiles are heavy but I soon learn to lean into the turns and we dash down the frozen track; navigating trees, small gorges and frozen rivers as we go.

The roar of our engines seems to explode through the entire forest, though the only other beings we pass on our three-hour round trip are a few Siberian jays, and they don’t seem to mind.

Hotel guests also have free access to cross-country skis, snowshoes and toboggans and we spend our free time skiing down the frozen river, walking the forest trails and finessing the ungraceful art of night-tobogganing. It feels as though we are have been on an adults’ wilderness adventure camp; but it’s also so peaceful and relaxing and most importantly of all, Father Christmas is nowhere to be seen. .