The sauna
Wood-fired, and the reason the house feels Finnish. Its own cabin at the top of the property, paired with the pool below it all year round.
Built for two to four people at a time, not a crowd.
A wood-fired sauna takes some knowing, so unless you grew up with one we light it and run it for you. Either way it is arranged in advance and carries a charge, set out in the booking terms: less if you run it yourself, more if we run it for you. Tell us when you book and it will be ready when you want it.
- Capacity
- 2–4
- Fuel
- Wood
- Season
- All year
- Access
- Outdoor steps
More about the sauna
When the family took the place on, around 2015, it had neither a bathroom nor a shower, and there was a choice to be made about which to build first. In Kai’s own words: “of course we chose the sauna.” For three years they showered outdoors all year round and used the sauna as the bathroom, and he has never revised the verdict — “did not regret the choice ever.”
The sauna has a cabin of its own at the top of the property, and the walk up through the trees is half of why it is good. It is wood-fired, built for two to four at a time, and the way back down afterwards is stone steps in the dark.
Kai’s own sessions are long and low. He runs it cooler than most people expect, around 60 to 70 degrees, takes a book in, and moves between the heat and the pool below several times across two or three hours. In his own words: “I could sauna all day long.” What ends a session is usually the clock.
With more people in there the temperature goes up, which suits a group — hotter means shorter rounds, more coming and going, more of what he calls the “action”. The stove is a little oversized for the room and gets very hot without much persuading. The firewood is the thing an aficionado notices: Spanish oak and olive burn long and steady, where a sauna really wants something light like birch.
The pool sits directly below, and the pairing is deliberate. Hot, then cold, then back again — a rhythm that runs here all year, not only in summer.
