The Bath House is one of my favourite spots on our property. It houses our Stoked Stainless wood-fired hot tub and also provides the perfect shady spot to hang my hammock while we wait for our big trees to grow.

We live in a high wind zone so asked Ben from Fieldhouse Builders to build The Bath House for us out of macrocarpa to create a haven so we can use the tub in any weather. This summer we’ve used it as a ‘cold tub’ more often that a hot tub.

The Bath House roof has the added benefit of collecting the water we use to fill our tub. We added a 10,000 litre water tank behind it which gravity feeds down into the tub.

It takes about 1,000 litres to fill so without this extra water collection we’d struggle to justify that when water is short. We went into summer with that tank full so have had lots of guilt free enjoyment.

We love the ritual of filling the tub, lighting the fire and waiting for it to come up to the perfect temperature. Mark’s ideal temperature is what the lads at Stoked Stainless recommend - 38 degrees celsius. I prefer a cooler 36 degrees so when it gets too hot for me I just jump in my hammock for a break. Shame about the awful view though 😂

It takes a bit of a knack to stoke the fire just the right amount. There’s been some crazy hot temps above 45 degrees which are actually too dangerous to even get in. We either wait for it to cool down or use the tap at the top to add cold water.

The water is good for either 3 days or 3 dips, then we empty it into recycled IBC tanks and use it to water our veggie garden.