Emma O‘Kelly

What is a wild sauna? Let’s start by saying what it’s not. A wild sauna is not tucked away in a forgotten corner of a gym – dark, smelly and claustrophobic. It’s not an add-on to a costly spa, where guests in fluffy robes and disposable slippers sip prosecco. It’s not a space where bathers with gadgets track their heart rates. Many wild saunas perch – sometimes literally – on Britain’s untamed fringes; they battle unpredictable elements to offer a healthy hit of outdoors and an exhilarating blast of hot and cold – with the latter coming from sea, lake, river, ice bath or outdoor shower. Often honed out of horseboxes or trailers, wild saunas are novel sanctuaries where you can while away an hour, semi-naked and sweaty, watching nature perform in glorious technicolour. The wild sauna ‘movement’ (there are now more than 200 such saunas around the UK), takes most of its cues from Nordic bathing cultures, from Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, where sauna is a way of life, and steam, or ‘löyly’, the nations’ lifeblood. At the helm is a new generation of  pioneering ‘saunapreneurs’ who stoke wood-burning fires in all weathers in order to deliver a dose of health and happiness to others.  RECOMMENDED: The best saunas in LondonHow sauna culture is heating up nightlife I visited loads of saunas up and down the country for my new book, ‘Wild Sauna: the best outdoor saunas in Britain’. On every trip no sooner had I boarded the train home, than another sauna opened behind me. I met