“I love the romance of the cold, the snow and the log fire and the peace and then to be able to get on a Ski-Doo and go across the lake at 70mph,” says Steve Bird, 48, a parking consultant from Harrow, Middlesex, who together with his wife, Tracy, 41, signed up last week to buy a two-bedroom cabin in Akaslompolo for about £121,000. “It takes me back to my childhood.”

The couple also first came to Lapland in 1997 on an organised Santa tour with their children, Stephen and Natasha, then seven and four, on what was meant to be the trip of a lifetime. They liked it so much they have been back every December since, discovering Akaslompolo in 2000 and making a number of Finnish friends.

Their only concern — apart from the fear that too many British will follow in their footsteps — is global warming. “Since we have been coming here, it has been getting an average one degree hotter every year,” says Bird. “Some times we have been here and it’s been below -40C. But when we arrived at the airport last night it was raining.”

Like many of the Britons buying, the Birds plan to use their cabin, which should be completed in February 2008, for only a week or so a year. The rest of the time they hope to rent it out. Local rental agents put the season realistically at 20-25 weeks, which should ensure a rental yield of 6%-8%.

The rental market is a varied one. In December, when the sun never even makes it above the horizon, it is dominated by Britons on Santa tours. Finns, French and Germans tend to come up to ski from February to May, when the days get longer, or visit in September to appreciate the brilliant autumn colours. June and July when the sun barely sets at all, is much quieter — not least because of the mosquitoes that emerge from the swampy ground.

And then there are the Russians, who have such a filthy reputation that one of the local letting agencies allows owners to stipulate they don’t want their property let to them. Part of it is historical: many older Finns, in particular, have never forgiven their giant eastern neighbour for annexing a large chunk of Karelia after the 1939-40 Winter War. But nor does the behaviour of many of the modern-day Russian tourists endear them to the locals.

“We’ve had cases when, rather than going to get more wood for the fire when they run out, the Russians just chop up the furniture and use that instead,” said the agency’s owner, who did not want to be named for fear of upsetting potential clients. “And they ruin the cross-country ski tracks by driving their snowmobiles over them. A lot of owners just won’t have them.”

The majority of Above the Arctic’s properties for sale are in Akaslompolo. Flats start at £57,175 for a 33sq m studio up to £90,750 for a 55sq m two-bedder. Most British buyers prefer wooden cabins, which also rent more easily, especially outside high season. A 56sq m one-bedder made out of kelo logs — a very hard kind of pine several hundred years old — will cost £91,600, while £114,150 will buy a 76sq m two-bedder. The company also has a massive four-bed, four-bath 130sq m cabin with 54sq m mezzanine for £303,100. All properties, the smallest studio included, have their own sauna. The off-plan ones come with euro mortgages of up to 60% loan to value, with interest rates that can be 4% or below.

The company is also looking at selling in Yllasjarvi, another village on the other side of the fell and in nearby Levi, a slightly livelier resort that caters for a younger crowd more interested in bars and nightclubs than family restaurants.

Still not quite exotic enough? Next year Above the Arctic is hoping to begin marketing modern two-bedroom traditional Lapp teepees in the nearby Lainio Snow Village, the centrepoint of which is a hotel made entirely of snow and ice, that is built every winter and gradually melts away in the summer. The hotel, which features beds, chairs and tables made of ice, is a popular tourist attraction; teepee owners would most likely be able to rent out their properties through the village to tour operators, generating good rental returns.

But why confine yourself to Yllas and Levi? In theory, those with a little initiative should be able to pick up somewhere away from the big resorts, although finding a property from Britain may not be easy.

Brunt, meanwhile, has his eyes on Swedish Lapland, which lies a short drive away. The company has been considering projects in Overkalix, a popular ski resort set in spectacular scenery just south of the Arctic Circle, where prices are expected to be substantially lower than in Finland. Those in search of complete isolation, meanwhile, should be able to pick up a cabin by a lake for as little as £10,000-£20,000. Again, how easy it is to find one for sale remains to be seen. And there is unlikely to be a karaoke bar anywhere near once you get there — which, on reflection, may not be such a bad thing after all.

Cabin fever

A one-bed 48sq m “Kopara” log cabin in Akaslompolo, near the Yllas resort, for £91,600, with Above the Arctic (01277 824 200, www.abovethearctic.com ).

Like most Finnish properties, it has a sauna This three-bed 100sq m “Kurunkolo” log cabin, in Akaslompolo, has a mezzanine that can make a sleeping area. It is for sale for £200,600 with Above the Arctic, 01277 824 200, www.abovethearctic.com

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