In 1919, Carl Wilhelm Rosenlew, the principal shareholder of the Rosenlew Group and a doctor of medicine and surgery, purchased the Äikäälä estate. At that time, the right to hunt moose required ownership of at least 500 hectares of forest, so Rosenlew, an avid hunter, acquired a total of 501 hectares of land in the Äikäälä area. Along with this, he also took ownership of the forester’s cottage, Haitti, located on the estate.
Five years later, Rosenlew began constructing his representative manor, known as Vanajanlinna, on the lands of Äikäälä, 12 kilometers from Haitti. One of his first projects was to build a railway between Vanajanlinna and the cottage. Initially, the railway was used to transport timber to the Vanajanlinna construction site, but once the manor was completed, visiting gentlemen traveled along the railway to the forester’s cottage for hunting. They made the journey in a luxury carriage, while the game they hunted was transported in a freight carriage following behind.
The railway was dismantled in the early 1960s and replaced by a road—the same road that visitors still use to reach Metsänvartijan Tila today.
Around the same time that Rosenlew was building his castle, changes also took place at the Äikäälä estate. The Myllymäki family, hired by Rosenlew, built a new main building on the estate in 1923, which is now known as the Red Cottage. During construction, they lived in a shed opposite Rantatalo.
The Crofter Act of 1918, supplemented in 1919 and 1922, gave crofters the right to purchase the land they had cultivated. In this way, the Myllymäki family bought a 32-hectare plot from Rosenlew, of which only a few hectares were arable. They lived an ordinary rural life, keeping a few cows and pigs and practicing small-scale farming.
The Myllymäki family sold their crofter’s cottage in the 1980s to the Kiipula Foundation, as there was no successor to take over the estate. In 1984, the Foundation built new log buildings on the property and organized rehabilitation activities during the summer months. In winter, the estate remained empty, and operations were not financially viable.
About fourteen years ago, in 1998, the Kiipula Foundation leased Metsänvartijan Tila to Pekka Vihma and Mika Walkamo, who had purchased Vanajanlinna Oy. Since then, the estate has been part of Vanajanlinna’s operations.
Today, Metsänvartijan Tila is in use year-round, primarily serving as a corporate meeting venue. The estate also hosts family celebrations, including weddings, birthdays, and family reunions.
The oldest preserved building on the estate is believed to be the smoke sauna dating back to 1908, originally used as a model sauna. The other earliest buildings are from roughly the same period.
