To mark the safe arrival of our eagerly anticipated sauna, Laura discusses the inspiration, planning and skill that went into creating the region’s first mobile sauna enterprise, Cedar Hus.
The excitement levels around the transformation of the old Canadian cedar A-frame into a beautiful mobile sauna have been rising over this damp summer. It’s the best recycling project that we’ve ever undertaken, and we are sure you will love the results.
We have high hopes that this beautiful wooden creation will bring joy to many people, by helping with sleep and relaxation, promoting good conversations and providing an opportunity to meet friends in interesting places. The sauna will be finding its feet and the best locations around the Borders over the next few months, and we will be trialling pop up events which combine flowers and sauna, fitness and sauna, and good food and sauna. Or just sauna if that’s what you need.
And as a luxurious Nordic sauna, we’ve given her a Nordic name, not well known, but inspired by a tin of tea! ‘Beyla’, goddess of earth, was a protector of plants and animals, especially bees. As organic farmers and given that our sauna project is a novel example of farm diversification, we feel that this name beautifully captures what we’d like her to help with. We want to grow good food, manage our mixed woodlands sustainably and help wildlife and people thrive. And we will use what we have – some reclaimed wood, windfall trees, a little time and a lot of passion for sauna.
We have enough wood for another one or two more designs, if this fun adventure finds favour with the people of the beautiful Scottish Borders and its lucky visitors.
Here is our journey so far………….
Hello Beyla
As the sauna, firmly built onto its Ifor Williams base, travelled from Ayrshire to the Scottish Borders, the spirit of adventure was off the scale – on a wet and windy day, pulling quite a high sided vehicle was a slow business! But all was well, and she arrived in one piece. Unwrapping this huge present from its silage wrap protection was a family affair, with candid curiosity from the children about this travelling wooden hut. As we cut the black ribbon, we peeked through the glass doors and window, and the expert craftsmanship shone out for all to see.
The wow factor thanks to Finnmark and D & T Stencel
David, Thomas and Pavel, are a talented trio of brothers who paid the utmost attention to all aspects of this project. Based on a bespoke design from the proven sauna experts at Finnmark and building on that with unique flare and skilled craftsmanship, D and T Stencel have delivered something really special. We are thrilled with the outcome.
Outside, they formed the roof into a gorgeous arc, inspiring our Cedar Hus logo. This hides solar panels which run the atmospheric interior lighting. There are secret hatches, such as using the space under the benches to store wood and provisions. The larch cladding on the outside is riveted neatly in rows. The steps up to the glass door are the first touch of cedar and lead inside to a small antechamber for hanging outer layers, with a shelf for books and glasses, plus a useful built-in chest bench, under which the cleaning supplies are to hand. Then we get to what we’ve all been waiting for.
The wow factor inhabits this small, fragrant sauna. A huge window frames the world outside, the view changing with the location. The walls and ceiling are made from magnificent, reclaimed cedar, carefully handcrafted from large planks into smaller ones, joined neatly in tongue and groove, each unique and individually set into place. The sauna stove sits squatly in the corner, surrounded with dark tiles which emphasise its radiant heat, setting the scene for its calm, relaxing tone. Sitting on the benches is so comfortable, with the supportive back rests, a beautiful view, and a very special sauna experience. There is enough space for 8 to 10 people to relax, chat and be at peace.
Our first sauna is Beyla
Despite a couple of false starts, the first, long anticipated sauna experience was magnificent and well worth the wait. Firstly, we had fun with the children as the stove went from cold to warm, and we carried in the washed sauna stones, stacking them into the deep cavity in the stove. The kids were high as kites and larking about in their PJs and modelling what are now known as Tinkerbell hats – the felt sauna caps with the lovely Cedar Hus brand on the front. Bedtime came as the temperature gauge climbed towards 40 degrees. Feeling nice and warm, and smelling so beautifully of cedar wood, sweet dreams awaited.
Later we went back and took the temperature from warm to very hot. The temperature climbed up quickly to over 60 degrees and gave us the sauna experience we’d hoped for – clouds of steam, soft and hot.
Beyla is a sauna based on Finnish design principles, inspiring gentle, humid heat. Löyly – a lovely Finnish word – means the steam clouds released as water is ladled onto the hot stove. It is a much-discussed aspect of saunas, and each has quite individual characteristics. How it feels depends on a huge list of things – the stove, the stones, strength of the fire, the temperature, the way air circulates in the space, the shape of the ceiling. On your skin, steam condenses and mixes with beads of sweat, which trickle pleasantly – there is beauty in the power our bodies have to step up circulation and cooling systems, all activated with heat and löyly.
Cool down for this first experience was in the dark, on the cedar steps, in fresh air filled with late summer fragrance, a light cool breeze bringing the music of hooting owls – and the noise of recently spained lambs from a few farms over! Stars twinkled, and the world felt slower and more peaceful. Good sleep is a key reason I love sauna, for me it can be hard to come by after years of tending small children, who don’t yet stay in their own bed all night. Sleep can be affected by so many things – stress, workloads, menopause, health, aging. If we can help more people to get a better quality of sleep, and therefore the uplift in mood and general health that goes hand in hand with that, there can be no better indication that Beyla is doing her job well.
