Embrace Viking wellness and sweat out stresses in a sauna, invigorate with a cold plunge and fill up on soul food this winter
Southcombe Piggery, Dartmoor
There are heaps of opportunities for cosiness and creativity at this former piggery.
Spend your winter visit snuggling by the fire on an upcycled chesterfield sofa, soaking in the roll‑top bath, or immersing in the Wild Spa with its wood‑fired sauna and twin outdoor baths. Private yoga sessions, Indian massage and gong baths provide further distractions.
Soul food is accompanied by bodily nourishment. Order a delivery of locally made Sri Lankan curry or arrange a private chef to whip up a foraged feast, cooked over flames.
Creative juices can be squeezed with a linocut-printing, flower‑crown making or forest‑bathing workshop.
Soul Sweats, Cornwall
Choose between their wild spa situated in Mount Pleasant Eco Park with doors that peel open onto a meadow and views of the Atlantic Ocean, or the Porthtowan seaside sauna for sweats and salty dips (look out for their new location opening soon).
Whether you visit for some quiet reflection or to chatter as you sweat it out, the saunas can seat up to ten and encourage both conversation and silence among their visitors. Porthtowan Beach and its luxuriously soft sand are on the doorstep of both sites for those who want to team their sauna experience with a surf, wild swimming or a quick cold-water fix.
Outside of its wood-fired sauna, Soul Sweats is a holistic hub of workshops, retreats and experiences that explore hot and cold therapy, breathwork, restorative yoga, sound healing, meditation, ecstatic dance and ceremony.
Rest + Wild, Devon
Lose yourself in one of the country’s most untamed landscapes with a stay at Rest + Wild. Its five luxury cabins are spread across four fields for privacy and each designed for two people (with space for a travel cot). They include a king‑size bed with views of the Exmoor landscape, as well as a firepit, outdoor copper bathtub, rainfall shower and complimentary Wildsmith products.
Ease into a stay by lighting the firepit, slipping into the outdoor tub, then cooking up a feast courtesy of the Best of British food hamper add‑on.
The cabins are designated switch‑off zones, so there’s no wifi. Dogs are welcome and will adore the walking and river splashing opportunities nearby.
Scarlet Hotel, Mawgan Porth, Cornwall
Peel off those layers of woolly winter clothing and revel in reconnection with your physical self at this eco hotel on Cornwall’s north coast.
The grown‑ups‑only space is all about rejuvenating mind, body and soul. Take a cold-water dip in the outdoor reed pool, indulge in treatments in lantern‑lit tented rooms, luxuriate in the warmth of sauna and steam experiences, and relax in a suspended cocoon pod.
Wellness‑restoring wonders are fabulous, but great food and wine are the key to a fully rounded getaway. Happily, the hotel’s season‑specific cooking and wine tasting sessions are seriously good too.
With sustainability and ecological considerations built into everything, indulgence feels contemporary and justified.
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