Hot Rocks sauna offers a relaxing time away from phones and social media
'It's relaxing. You can't do anything in there for the hour'
THE first time Andy Fox tried a sauna, he “immediately loved it”. He loved it so much that he undertook converting an old horsebox into a wood-paneled, stove heated sauna for himself and his family.
He dug up cast iron bathtubs in ditches on his brother-in-law’s farm, painted them and rigged up a water system to fill the bathtubs from the nearby stream. The five tubs of ice-cold water now lie overlooking a ringfort that has been respectfully left to the fairies.
After testing it out with locals on 8 November, he opened the sauna to the public. The ‘Hot Rocks Sauna’ is located near Grangecon, Co Wicklow, just over the Carlow border. It is conveniently located near the Grangecon Kitchen café, which Mr Fox said has been important for promoting the new activity in the area.
Inland sweathouses like Hot Rocks are part of Irish history and culture. There were many beehive-shaped drystone structures beside streams and rivers in seventeenth century Ireland, believed to be important for health and spirituality.
As is the cycle of life, the number of saunas inland in the south-east has boomed over the last few years.
Mr Fox puts it down to “a lot more wellness stuff going on” after the pandemic. “You sleep amazingly after it. Your skin glows, you just feel a lot more vibrant.”
And as fewer people are meeting up at the pub at the weekend, he sees saunas as “quite a social thing to do”.
“You either go in with your friends or you book a single seat and hope the randomers you meet in there are fun,” he says.
His children frequently have their friends over to enjoy the hot and cold extremes. His eldest daughter, he adds, is studying for the leaving certificate and is planning to conduct her Spanish grinds in the sauna from now on.
“It’s relaxing. You can’t do anything in there for the hour – you’re off your phone, off social media.”
