Outdoor saunas: The latest Scandinavian health trend which is sweeping the UK

Some people swear by a dip in the hot tub in December, and a heated home office would be a dream for many who work from home, but with our wildly variable climate, there are few outdoor living features useable year-round without need for protective layers of clothing.

Until the arrival of the outdoor sauna in the UK. It’s a trend taking off this year as devotees of healthy habits – following the Scandinavian concept of ‘Friluftsliv’ (Norwegian for ‘free air life’), which is all about embracing outdoor life – seek a place to relax and commune with nature.

Public outdoor saunas are already opening up here. In January this year, at Fell Foot on the shores of Lake Windermere in Cumbria, entrepreneur Debbie Noble opened La’al, a mobile sauna in a converted vintage horsebox, where for £30 a session, guests can enjoy a warming experience followed by open water swimming, or vice versa

“I noticed the boom in popularity of mobile saunas after spotting one on social media, and the inspiration for La’al Sauna stemmed from there,” Debbie says.

So it’s only a matter of time before people will want to re-create the experience at home, agrees Adam Kershaw, director at Aqualine Wellness, a company selling saunas, steam-rooms, hot-tubs and other outdoor living products in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

“With the rise of interest in well-being and outdoor living, we’re seeing more enquiries from people wishing to find out more about having their own outdoor sauna,” he says. “In Scandinavia, for example, sauna bathing is already an established household custom. Having a sauna is almost like having a bathroom.”

Aqualine sells saunas by reputable suppliers such as Harvia, Sentiotec and Auroom, with prices starting from £5,395 for the Harvia Kuikka Traditional Finnish Outdoor Sauna package. This includes the sauna building in Finnish Grade A spruce, roof, and either a wood-burning sauna stove with steel chimney or an electric sauna heater.

Aqualine also report a rise in enquires for ‘DIY’ saunas being fitted into existing garden buildings. Electric and wood-burning sauna stoves are available to buy stand-alone; the company’s electric stove kits cost from £400 upwards. Wood-burners start from £560, with the flue kit and chimney totalling around £1,200.

“The Scandinavians have been advocating the health benefits of saunas for years but many people don't have room in their homes for a custom-built hot room,” says Rupert McKelvie, founder of Out of the Valley, a specialist outdoor sauna company based in Devon, supplying nationwide.

This is the big plus of creating a sauna in the garden. Outdoor saunas can be smaller than a garden shed; footprints are relatively small, working to measurements of 2.4m x 2.6m to fit two or three people. They come in a variety of styles too; from streamlined and contemporary to traditional barrel-shapes which would especially suit the garden of a period property, carefully sited amongst greenery.

“As well as the well-documented health benefits, an outdoor sauna becomes a place where you can immerse yourself in nature and escape the pressures of modern living,” Rupert adds.

The warm dry air, the aromatic scent of thermo alder wood (the distinctive timber typically used for the interior of a sauna) and the view of surrounding nature – especially if you opt for panoramic windows - combine to create a calming effect, whilst the steady heat has been found to ease muscle aches, cleanse the skin and improve circulation.

A study by the University of Eastern Finland found that regular use of a sauna reduces the risk of heart-related disease. Fans of wild swimming swear there is nothing to beat a hot sauna as an accompaniment; this practice is often favoured by athletes to improve circulation and boost the immune system.

It has also been argued that sitting in hot temperatures mimics the body’s response to moderate and high intensity cardiovascular exercise such as running. Whilst it doesn’t clock up the steps, sauna bathing can also be both sociable and provide peace and quiet to aid mediation and positive thinking.

One of the benefits of opting to site a sauna outdoors is that you can use wood to create the heat required to make ‘löyly’ the evaporating stream that rises from a ‘kiuas’ sauna stove when water is gently added.

So even if you don’t have an electrical connection in your garden, you can still have a sauna. And of course, wood-burning is the only option should you choose to site your outdoor sauna in a remote location, in the middle of a forest perhaps, if you’re lucky enough to own one.

However, at the other extreme, technological advancements allow an electric sauna stove to be operated remotely, using a smartphone app. So you can programme your outdoor sauna to be ready to step into the moment you finish work – or emerge from that bracing cold-water plunge.