They are typically associated with relaxation and the alleviation of stress – but one trendy outdoor sauna has sent blood pressure rocketing on a beachside millionaires’ row.
Stephen and Lucie Allen put up the cabin outside their multi-million pound mansion – presumably looking forward to a refreshing dunk in the sea before basking in the warmth of their own coals.
But it was not just the sauna they fired up on the Sandbanks peninsula near Poole in Dorset.
Neighbour Brian Leader Cramer, who owns a holiday flat two doors away, made a formal complaint, saying the dark grey cabin ruined his view.
Fortunately for the Allens, who are understood to have erected the structure without planning permission last summer, Mr Cramer’s bid to throw cold water on their sauna failed.
A retrospective planning application submitted in August last year has now been approved, after officials ruled that the quality of Mr Cramer’s view was ‘not a consideration’.
It could also be a green light for those wealthy enough to join the outdoor sauna trend, with numbers across Britain soaring from just 45 a couple of years ago to almost 150 now.
Businessman Mr Allen, 65, and his wife moved to Sandbanks in 2013 when they bought an older property on the peninsula for more than £3million.
Stephen and Lucie Allen put up the cabin outside their multi-million pound mansion – presumably looking forward to a refreshing dunk in the sea before basking in the warmth of their own coals
Neighbour Brian Leader Cramer, who owns a holiday flat two doors away, made a formal complaint, saying the dark grey cabin ruined his view. The sauna, circled left, is said to spoil the view from a nearby terrace, circled right
A retrospective planning application submitted in August last year has now been approved, after officials ruled that the quality of Mr Cramer’s view was ‘not a consideration’
The sports enthusiasts – the couple say they enjoy whitewater rafting, cycling, skiing and surfing on motorised hydrofoil surfboards – promptly knocked it down and replaced it with their four-storey mansion, estimated to be worth more than £11million today.
The original plans for the luxury property showed an indoor swimming pool – complete with indoor sauna – plus a hot tub and gym on the lower ground floor.
But then the outdoor sauna popped up. It is 8ft 7.5in in height and 7ft 7in wide, standing at the end of the garden and just yards from the sea across the sandy beach.
Experts say the ‘contrast therapy’ of going from hot to cold water in an instant releases noradrenaline and dopamine into the body, increasing focus, energy and mood for hours.
But it made neighbour Mr Cramer’s blood boil. The company director, 79, whose main home is in Bushey, Hertfordshire, told the local authority that the sauna ‘significantly impairs the views of Studland Bay to the west when viewed from the rear terrace’ of his ground floor apartment.
He added that the sauna was ‘bulky, unsightly and out of keeping with the surrounding buildings’.
But Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council have granted the Allens retrospective planning permission, saying their sauna was not overbearing, not visible from the shoreline and that it did not impact on the light and privacy of neighbouring properties.
The sauna is 8ft 7.5in in height and 7ft 7in wide, standing at the end of the garden and just yards from the sea across the sandy beach
Planning officer Amelia Rose added that ‘one neighbour commented that the outbuilding had resulted in the loss of a view, however this is not a material planning consideration’.
While outdoor saunas have become increasingly popular in the UK, enthusiasm for them here is still nowhere near the level seen in Finland, where the 5.3million population have some 3million saunas between them.
The topic even featured on Radio 4’s Today programme last week, with the presenter and sauna enthusiast Jonny Dymond telling the show’s listeners: ‘In the interests of balance, I should say other forms of relaxation are available – they’re just not as good.’
