Seto Farm Museum

Setomaa straddles the modern Estonian-Russian border, and the Seto are an Orthodox Finno-Ugric people whose culture sits at an angle to mainstream Lutheran Estonia. Their leelo singing - a polyphonic form led by one voice with the group answering - is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list. The museum at Värska is a complete nineteenth-century farmstead kept as it was.

What you actually see

• The closed farmyard - buildings on all four sides facing inward, which is the Seto pattern.
• The range of buildings - dwelling house, storehouses, threshing barn, summer kitchen and sauna.
• The interiors - furnished rooms with the icon corner in the main one.
• The silver and textiles - the strongest part of the collection, including the jewellery Seto women wore in weight rather than for display.

When to go

June to August is fully open, with events and craft demonstrations, and Seto handicraft and singing groups appearing in season. The first Saturday of August is Seto Kingdom Day, when a regent is chosen for the year and the whole community turns out: busy, and the best time to be there. Winter runs reduced opening, so check first.

Honest expectations

Setomaa is remote by Estonian standards and the drive is a real part of the day. The museum itself is small - the reason to come is the region rather than the site alone.

The border runs close by. Some roads in the area cross Russian territory and are not usable; navigation apps are not always current on this.

Nearby

Värska has a spa and a mineral-water spring. Piusa caves are twenty minutes north, and Obinitsa with its Seto museum is a similar distance south.