A nice way to see some Finnish nature. A well maintained area with plenty of information boards explaining the history.

A pothole (or a giant's kettle) is a cauldron-like cavity in a bedrock. It was formed during the last Ice Age over 10,000 years ago.Melting masses of eddying water made the loose rocks on the river bed roll and revolve.

The Askola pothole area is situated in the village of Korttia, on the hilly banks of the River Porvoonjoki. The pothole area is clearly marked with traffic signs on the Askola-Pukkila road (road number 1635). The area is easily achievable by bus, too. The route bus Helsinki-Porvoo-Lahti goes by the adjacent parking area usually several times in a day. The area is always open for visitors (24/7). However, there isn't special winter maintenance and so there may be lot of snow there in the winter. You can put the entrance fee (2 euros in 2016) independently in the strongbox.

The Askola pothole area consists of 20 named potholes which are situated close together. The largest pothole is called Jättiläisen Kuhnepytty (The Giant's Bath Tub) is 10.3 meters in depth and 4.2 meters in width. There are only a couple of potholes in the whole world which are larger than this one. The Askola area of 20 potholes is rare even globally.

The walking distance from the parking area to the pothole area is about 500 meters. There are stairs on the way and so it is impossible to use wheelchairs or strollers. There is also an extra scenic route of about 300 meters round the rock. On that route the beautiful scene opens to the valley of the River Porvoonjoki. This is one of the nationally valuable landscapes in Finland.

Our family loved this place. It was almost magical and it was very relaxing to walk in the forest and watch these interesting potholes. We liked the extra scenic route, too.

In Finnish we call "Hiidenkirnu". I don´t know what is it in English. But, it is the water and small or big rock made hole to the bedrock. It took thousands of the years that those holes are created by the nature. Place, is unique. It might be little bit difficult to go there if you don´t have a car. It is located in the countryside. There is good signs all over in the place. It took from the parking place to walk there about 15 min - 20 min through the Finnish forest.