Coastal sauna

Heat, then cold sea.

A wood fired sauna on the harbour wall, three steps from the water. Book the whole room by the hour.

Book an hour
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Ninety degrees, six feet from the water.

The stove is lit two hours before your slot. Ladle the water yourself and the room answers in seconds.

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Steps down, and straight in.

Steel steps off the boardwalk into the harbour. A minute is plenty on the first go.

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Three rounds is the usual pattern.

Fifteen minutes hot, a minute cold, ten sat outside watching the tide. Repeat until you have had enough.

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Open from six in the morning.

First slot before work, last one after dark. Fourteen pounds an hour, towels on the hook.

Book an hour
The place

One room, one stove, one set of steps.

Saltkiln is a cedar hut bolted to the harbour wall at the end of the boardwalk. Nothing else to it.

The room
01The roomCedar benches on two tiers and one small window facing the water. Six at a squeeze, four in comfort.
The water
02The waterHarbour water at the bottom of the steps. Eight degrees in March, twelve by the end of July.
The dip
03The dipSteel steps off the boardwalk, a rope handrail, and a gravel beach when the tide is out.
The wood
04The woodBirch and ash, split on site and stacked to dry where the sun hits the gable.
What it is built from

Timber that takes the heat, steel that takes the salt.

Everything inside is untreated. No varnish, no resin, nothing that gives off a smell at ninety degrees.

Western red cedarBenches and backrests. Cool enough to sit on with bare skin.
Hot rolled steelStove, flue and the steps down to the water.
Aspen panellingCeiling and walls. Pale, knot free, no resin to drip.
Olivine stoneForty kilos on the stove, replaced every spring.
BirchBurns hot and clean. Two baskets get the room through a morning.

How an hour works.

BookPick a slot and the room is yours for the hour, on your own or with five others.
ArriveChange in the hut next door. A hook, a bench and somewhere dry for your phone.
SitThe stove is up to temperature when you get there. Ladle the water as often as you like.
SwimSteps off the boardwalk into the harbour, then the outdoor tap before you go back in.
Enquire

Book an hour.

Tell us the day, the time and how many of you there are. We reply with the slot and the gate code.