How To Create The Perfect Outdoor Wellness Area For Summer

The summer has brought plenty of warmth and sunshine, and this is great news if you love to spend time outdoors relaxing in your garden. One of the hottest trends right now is the outdoor wellness area, which is a multi-functional space with features such as a sauna or steam room, plunge pool, and fitness zones. 

This capitalises on the benefits of being amongst nature, whilst providing chill time and a dedicated health and exercise space in the privacy of your own garden. Here’s a look at how to create your very own outdoor oasis of calm and wellbeing this summer.

What are outdoor wellness zones?

Better Homes & Gardens reports that wellness zones tap into the power of nature for healing and wellbeing, and as more millennials become homebuyers and work from home, the garden has become a sanctuary and a place for self-care. It creates a spa-like environment right on your doorstep, and you can enjoy views of your garden as you relax or exercise. 

Interior designer Sarah Barnard says, “For many, there has been a newfound joy in spaces like botanical gardens, outdoor fitness classes, and outdoor social events, which have often been prioritized over indoor events in recent years. Many of us have been engaging in our outdoor spaces more and realizing how vital devoting time to being outside can be.”

Allison Messner, CEO of Yardzen, adds: “[People] want to create beautiful spaces that not only encourage more time spent outside year-round—tapping the related health benefits of simply being outdoors—but include dedicated wellness elements like saunas, heated and cold plunge pools, meditation gardens, and yoga platforms, among other things.” 

Wellness areas include features such as hot or cold plunge pools, glass-fronted steam rooms, poolside shower systems with frameless glass screens, open-air saunas, yoga platforms, and even meditation gardens. 

Plunge pools

Installing a regular sized swimming pool in the back garden is not a realistic option for many people: there just isn’t the space, or it would take up too much valuable lawn and bedding or patio room. However, a plunge pool is a miniature version of a swimming pool, typically measuring just 8 to 12 feet in length. 

They can be used to provide a space for aqua aerobics, or heated to act in a similar relaxing way as a hot tub. Unheated plunge pools can be used for cold water immersion therapy. Prefabricated plunge pools are relatively easy to install and maintain, particularly if they are above ground level on a deck or raised patio area.

Outdoor showers

Garden showers are perfect for rinsing yourself off before and after using the pool or hot tub, or just for cleaning up muddy kids or dogs after a long walk. Combine them with a tinted or frosted shower screen supported with a recessed stainless steel glass channel for privacy without blocking out the light. 

Glass-fronted steam rooms and saunas

Garden saunas or steam rooms with glass fronts allow you to combine the therapeutic benefits of being in a warm humid environment with immersion in nature. Often designed as cedar pods or log huts with glass doors, these features will fit beautifully into any garden setting. 

For the perfect finishing touch, add a vintage roll-top bathtub for an invigorating fresh air soak, or an outdoor shower. 

Yoga platforms

Practicing yoga outdoors is a popular way to combine the benefits of fresh air and sunlight with stretching and breathing exercises. Yoga is also a spiritual practice that requires a sense of groundedness, but an uneven dew-laden lawn is not always the most practical place.

A yoga platform provides a dedicated firm level space away from damp or triggering pollens and grasses, elevated slightly above ground level. It doesn’t need to be much bigger than the size of a yoga mat, and it’s made from durable natural wood. 

To create a finished wellness area, landscape the garden thoughtfully with native plants, a water feature, and natural sculptures in rock or stone.