A while ago, an email landed in my inbox that had me hankering for something I never knew I wanted: a wood-fired, oak-clad bath-shaped hot tub from Holloways of Ludlow. I’m more of a freezing cold lake type than a hot-tub goer, but something about this gadget-free one – you simply light the stove and 80 minutes later you’re good to go – by Swedish brand Hikki had me. Perhaps it would be the solution to all of life’s stresses? Maybe an evening wallowing in 600 litres of steamy water at the bottom of our garden would help me unwind and give me the mental clarity I craved? As Holloways of Ludlow’s founder and MD Mark Holloway tells me, a large part of the appeal of Hikki’s hot tub is that it ‘taps into our most ancient instincts and desires’.
It turns out, in fact, that I am one of many to fall for something that has become a bit of a thing in our homes and gardens: wellness. From wood-fired hot tubs to saunas and steam showers, more and more of us are thinking about how we can incorporate spaces in our homes that will aid our physical and mental health and help us slow down. ‘There is so much more health awareness today and it’s helped by the fact that teenagers are much more conscious of their wellbeing than we were at their age,’ says designer Emma Pocock of Turner Pocock, who has recently created an impressive subterranean pool and spa space for a client in Bedfordshire in collaboration with Yiangou Architects and Light House Designs. ‘We’re certainly seeing a desire from our clients to have a wellness space in their homes. Gyms have always been popular, but dedicated areas for more holistic wellbeing, such as quiet pools and hammams, are increasingly on the list of requirements from our clients,’ she explains.
Interestingly, it doesn’t just seem to be something that clients in the countryside want. ‘We also create a lot of clever small spa spaces in city homes and apartments, as well as incorporating saunas and plunge pools into bathrooms,’ Emma explains. London-based interior designer Deniz Bayern of Studio Kaya has done just that in her north-west London terrace, carving out space in the bathroom for a steam shower when she renovated five years ago. ‘I’d always wanted one and we use it almost everyday in winter,’ says Deniz. It was, of course, more costly than a standard shower – not just the steam function itself, but also the additional ventilation required and the built-in tiled bench – but for Deniz it was well worth the extra effort. ‘With some essential oils, it has a spa-like quality,’ she explains. ‘It’s also very helpful when you have a cold.’
Interior designer Christian Bense has also recently designed a steam room for a Grade II-listed house in west London, which he incorporated into an elegant off-white panelled bathroom. ‘Even though it is in a listed building, it didn’t require a special application and all of the techy bits are hidden in a cupboard with the rest of the controls and plumbing, so there wasn’t much of a compromise,’ he explains. ‘It’s the first time we’ve done this sort of thing in a period home, but it has sparked a conversation with new clients about what is possible and how easy it is to achieve.’
The Scandinavians have long seen the benefits of home saunas: rather than being seen as a luxury, they are often regarded as a part of everyday life, especially in the countryside. Interior designer Marie-Louise Sjögren even carved out space for a small sauna in the ensuite bathroom of her top-floor Stockholm apartment. ‘Both my husband and I grew up with sauna culture, squeezing into little wood-fired saunas with our families and rolling in the snow afterwards, and we both agreed it would be special to have a sauna in a city apartment,’ she explains. ‘All the positive health effects are a great bonus, but it’s basically just really cosy and a nice way to take a steaming hot break from the Swedish winter every now and then,’ she adds.
It seems that we’re quickly catching up with our Scandinavian counterparts, with home and garden saunas becoming increasingly popular here. Devon-based outdoor sauna maker Out of the Valley, has seen a huge increase in demand for its pre-fabricated wood-clad sauna cabins. The company launched in 2015, originally specialising in handmade off-grid cabins, before shifting its focus to solely saunas in 2024 to meet the growing interest.
‘Over the years the majority of demand has been in the countryside, but we’re now seeing a massive shift with almost a third of enquiries for city locations,’ says co-founder Chris Selman. This urban interest was also reflected in one of the projects shortlisted for the Don’t Move, Improve! Awards in 2023: a traditional Russian banya spa in the back garden of a house in Hampstead by Black & Milk and Cooke & Fawcett Architects. Housed in a timber-clad studio, it features a sauna (run via electricity as a wood-fired stove wasn’t permitted by the council), bucket shower and outdoor plunge pool.
According to Mika Meskanen, the co-founder and chair of the British Sauna Society, ‘the wider cultural shift towards healthier and more conscious lifestyle practices accounts for a lot of the interest in saunas’. And, as he explains, the benefits are multi-faceted: ‘The main draw used to be cardiovascular health, but now we’re hearing more and more from the mental and brain health side as well.’ For Tom Barton, the founder of Honest Burgers, whose former light-filled Victorian cottage in south London we featured here, his garden sauna does just that. ‘Once I’ve been in a really hot sauna, I have real mental clarity and everything feels better,’ he explains. ‘Finishing it off with an ice bath is the icing on the cake,’ he adds, referring to the Urban Ice Tribe ‘Ice Bath’ that sits alongside the sauna. ‘Most of the time I’m in the sauna on my own, but it’s great to do it with friends too and we used to do sauna Sundays with our friends in London.’ Tom had his small four-person sauna made by Bristol-based Sauna Craft (where prices start from £9,500 for a simple 2-3 person sauna) and even managed to take it with him when he and his wife Connie Barton moved to Northamptonshire last year.
So, where do you start if you want to amp up the wellness factor in your home and garden? As Tom proves, with a bit of planning, you can even take an outdoor garden sauna with you, so don’t be put off if you’re not living in your forever home. For saunas, you could have a go at building your own, but there are are also reams of companies now offering pre-fabricated models: Sauna Craft and Out of the Valley are two of these, but other good, UK-based companies include The Cedar Sauna Company, Heartwood Saunas and shepherd’s hut-maker Plankbridge, which recently launched the ‘Sauna Snug’.
If wood-fired isn’t an option for you, electric saunas are also available. Marie-Louise Sjögren, for instance, ended up having an electric one in her flat as she couldn’t have a wood-fired one due to the lack of chimney. ‘It still gets really hot and we have real stones around it where you pour water so you can still get proper steam,’ she explains. Another possibility is an infrared sauna, which works by emitting infrared rays that heat your body directly (rather than how wood-fired warms the air around you); these operate at lower temperatures and use much less electricity, meaning that they are both cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
For wellness spaces within your home, take heed of Christian Bense’s advice, too. ‘More often than not, when someone mentions having a spa-like space, it’s part of a conversation about digging down into the basement, but you certainly don’t need to be digging down, nor does it need to feel like a contemporary add on to a period home.’ Remember that these elements can be retrofitted into existing spaces and needn’t be glaringly contemporary or high-tech. And on that note, I’m going to go back to dreaming about Hikki’s wood-fired hot tub.
