The Finnish Sauna (pronounced sow-na)
People often ask why I came to have a garden sauna. In the UK, a sauna is either seen as an up-market item like a swimming pool, Aga cooker range or Jacuzzi, or as part of the seedy red light sex scene. However, in Finland, the home of the sauna, it is part of everyday life. 

Steel workers have them at work after clocking off, families bathe together at home and of course many Finns retire to lakeside huts and jump into the lake in between saunas. So how did I come to have one? Well, in 1991 after "Secret Signals" was published, a Finnish guard patrolling the border with the USSR wrote to me and said that one of the spy stations I had written about was interfering with his reception on 4030 kHz shortwave.

We corresponded and he sent me a book on the Finnish sauna culture. One story caught my imagination. This concerned a Finn who drove out to a remote frozen lake, collected beer and sausages from a store on the way and started up a wood fired sauna next to the lake. After drilling holes in the ice, he went fishing for perch.

After the fishing, he went for his sauna and afterwards was warm enough to drink beer looking over the frozen wasteland. Suitably inspired, I looked for a second hand sauna in Exchange and Mart. After a while, a proper Finnish-made log sauna was for sale for £550 in Warwick. After hiring a van, I drove the 140 miles to collect the sauna.



Photos by Caj Bremer

The assembly was very simple as the sauna consisted of planed pine logs that slot together at the corners. When the four walls are complete, the two piece roof panel is slotted into place. The aspen bench is then fitted to the back wall. The 7.5 kW stove consists of electric elements which are then covered with peridotite rocks that will not split when water is added. A cooker cable is used and the stove is powered directly from the main fuse box, or a cooker outlet. 

A thermostat will let you set the temperature to your taste. I usually run mine at 100 °C although at that temperature, I stay on the lower bench. Before entering the sauna you should take a quick shower to remove most of your body's dirt so it does not rub off on the benches. After around 15 minutes, you should be sweating quite profusely and should be laid on a towel to keep the sweat off the wood.

I like to drink a cold beer in the sauna whilst listening to the radio and reading the latest "Cycling Weekly" or "Short Wave Magazine". If you read books then they will be ruined very quickly as the glue will melt and the pages will fall out. Drinking beer doesn't seem to cause much of a problem as it's about 96% water, but I would not drink wine or spirits in there (don't touch them anyway) unless I wanted a terrible hangover!

After a while, it's great to be able to sit outside the sauna and cool down in the cold garden - with a towel on of course, before going back in for another session. Apart from the beer you can also cook food on the stones as long as it's well wrapped in aluminium foil. Any sort of non fatty meat can be cooked in foil, such as very lean Bratwurst, pork, beef, tuna and especially chicken and turkey. Cheap sausages and cuts like fatty lamb should be avoided as they will spit and cause a lot of acrid smoke.

Favourite recipes include turkey breast slathered in tandoori paste, chicken in peanut satay sauce and cubed beef marinated in teriyaki sauce. Keep well wrapped in foil, otherwise the sauces will run onto the stones.

The main part of the sauna experience is when the water is sprinkled on the stones causing what the Finns call Löyly or steam. The experience can be enhanced by adding various essences to the water. Here is a selection I bought in Coburg, Germany on holiday. 

A selection of essences.


The logs of the sauna fit together easily and breathe better than cheaper panels with insulating wool.


7.5 kW stove with peridotite rocks.

Bench made from Aspen on rear wall.