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Into the wood
My aversion to excessive heat and unnecessary removal of clothing has been vigorously challenged by a cedar-seated, sweet-smelling sauna. I wasn’t expecting this, but such Damascene moments are apparently quite common. Wildhut founders Thaisa Box and Lisa Deller had theirs in a small sauna on the beach in their native Brighton (“I found myself booking ahead because it was hard to get in,” says Deller). It became their joint obsession, culminating in the production of this range of outdoor saunas designed to withstand Baltic temperatures but also, crucially, the dampness of British gardens. And that’s where we’re currently sitting, in an eight-person version (the “Maa”), watching trees sway and birds hop about through a triple-glazed picture window.
Wildhut’s heat can come from a wood burner, but in this case (and most) it’s an electric element within a stove packed with olivine stones. It’s onto these rocks that you will, from time to time, pour a ladleful of water, unleashing clouds of steam known as löyly if you’re Finnish, leil if you’re Estonian. In Finnish culture, the spiritual significance of the löyly has seen saunas recognised by Unesco on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. That, combined with the claimed health benefits (improved cardiovascular and immune function, among others) is what Wildhut seeks to bring to the UK and beyond.
It’s modular, so the parts can be carried through to a garden (no crane required) and assembled in a few days. Each of the models is 2.5m high to comply with building regs and comes with an optional porch and shower. The cedar interior naturally repels insects and all fittings were designed to withstand fluctuating temperatures.
But the heat and humidity is really a sideshow to spending time together, according to Deller. “It’s such a wonderful space to connect with people,” she says. “It’s part of our lifestyle we didn’t realise was missing. We thought we’d done it all, but the sauna added a whole new dimension.”
Ground control
The search for a reliable insulated sleeping pad for camping is usually a trade-off between bulk and quality, but the onward march of materials science is making that quest ever easier. Vango’s latest (and warmest) fits into a neat pack that weighs 735g and measures just 22cm high by 13cm diameter, unfolding to a 195cm by 58cm mat that can either be inflated by mouth (about 20 puffs) or using the pack itself as a pump-sack. Cunning lamination techniques and layers of aluminium film to reflect heat make it more than suitable for winter camping (it has an R value of 5.6), and it gives proper support, even for heftily built coves such as myself. Added marks for the non-rustling recycled fabric.
By stove!
Owners of wood-burning stoves may enjoy monitoring the fire they’ve built and tweaking air controls to keep it burning to their liking, but our general tendency is to burn logs far too hard. This ingenious “intelligent” stove monitors the fire not by temperature, but by using a light sensor in the fire brick lining. If the fire’s too bright, it automatically dials down the air coming in, and if it dies down too much, it opens it up. The result is an optimal burn – cleaner, more efficient, fewer logs needed. It’s the kind of tech that really takes care of itself, but smart home enthusiasts will appreciate the Charnwood Control app, which provides temperature readings, an “overnight mode” and more.
The big sleep
I featured the Pod 4’s predecessor the winter before last, praising its ability to regulate your night-time temperature by pushing heated or cooled water through a special mattress cover, and after a longer period of time sleeping on one, I’d say it’s one of those rare pieces of kit that I really miss when it’s not there. Any piffling gripes one may have had with Pod 3 have been rectified in this version: the bedside Pod operates 40 per cent quieter (a very gentle hum), there’s an option to control it manually by tapping the sides (rather than fiddling with the app) and the mattress cover is slimmer, softer and feels no different to a standard mattress topper. Rock-solid operation, game-changing relaxation.
A new flame
We have a strong primal connection to fire. Electric heaters, not so much. For decades, heater manufacturers have tried to compensate for the absence of dancing flames using a range of unconvincing techniques, but Dutch firm Kalfire has it nailed. Its holographic fireplaces look amazing, but installation effectively requires the construction of a fake chimney breast; this, by contrast, can be mounted on a wall. It’s a 1.5kW fan heater built around a screen that displays a fire, with LED lighting creating the effect of ember beds and glowing logs below. It’s designed to sit below a 65in television, and Kalfire can provide matching surrounds to integrate everything perfectly.
@rhodri
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