Heartwood Saunas is an outdoor sauna design and build company creating exceptional wellness spaces for private and commercial clients across the UK and beyond.
From our workshop in Mid Wales, we design and craft both made-to-order saunas from our Signature Collection, with carefully considered custom options, and fully bespoke commissions. Every project is thoughtfully designed, meticulously built, and sensitively integrated into its setting – whether that’s a country estate, coastal retreat, townhouse, or contemporary home.
We do not produce off-the-shelf units. Every Signature sauna is built to order, and every bespoke project begins with a blank page. We work with natural materials, precision joinery, and timeless design principles – and we don’t cut corners.
We believe true luxury is quiet – it’s found in the integrity of materials, quality of craftsmanship, and spaces that feel solid, calm, and built to last. Our saunas are made to perform beautifully, age gracefully, and provide meaningful restoration for years to come.
“When Heartwood started back in 2017, a sauna was often something that was tucked away in the corner of a room in a gym or leisure centre, usually in quite a dingy and closed-in space. That was something I really wanted to change. I wanted to show people that having a sauna can be much more than that, and I wanted more people to have access to the indescribable feeling of aliveness that comes from sauna bathing in a beautifully designed, expertly crafted space made from durable, thoughtfully chosen materials.
The motivation was to create an outdoor sauna, of the highest quality, designed to last through the UK’s worst weather, and offer my family and friends the health benefits and enjoyment of a sauna right outside our own home.
Jump ahead to today and the sauna-scape has changed hugely. We are not the only company designing and hand-crafting outdoor saunas but we do have almost a decade of experience designing and meticulously hand-crafting saunas for clients in the UK and abroad, with the sole intention of delivering a sauna experience like no other.”
- Olly Davey, Founder
Why choose Heartwood?
Designed and built from scratch
Every Heartwood sauna is handcrafted, and made to order, in our purpose-built workshop in mid-Wales, on the edge of Eryri National Park. We design and handcraft a range of signature and commercial saunas, and we also offer a fully bespoke service – creating tailored wellness spaces for both private clients and businesses. Regardless of the size or scope of the project, each build receives the same care, attention to detail, and commitment to craftsmanship.
The process begins with our in-house design team, and each sauna is then handcrafted, using only the best quality, locally sourced and sustainable British timber, by our expert team of carpenters. By keeping both design and construction under one roof, we oversee every stage of a sauna’s journey through the workshop. This direct involvement allows us to maintain exceptional quality control and a meticulous attention to detail.
Small, close-knit team
Heartwood began as a one-person company and has grown steadily into a close-knit team of more than twenty. Despite our expansion over the past nine years, remaining a small, hands-on team is important to us, as it allows us to stay closely involved at every stage of the project, and to protect the high standard of quality that defines our work.
Our in-house design team brings extensive expertise and a deep understanding of sauna construction to every project, shaping each concept with care and intention. Every design is thoroughly considered from aesthetic, practical, and experiential perspectives – reflecting on how it looks, how it functions, and how it feels to use.
Each carpenter brings a specialist skill to the workshop, integrating cross-sector expertise, which supports our culture of growth and learning and ensures our methods, systems and our brand are always evolving.
“We carefully considered every purchase we made during the design and build of our retreat, but when it came to buying our sauna, no deliberation was needed. As soon as we found Heartwood and visited the workshop to meet the team, we knew immediately we were in the right place and in safe hands. Our sauna is a work of art, with even the smallest detail thoughtfully considered. Our retreat guests get to enjoy the very best sauna experience, and we couldn’t be happier.”
- Anna and Robin, Client
Sauna Specialists
With a decade of experience in designing, building and installing saunas, we bring a wealth of individual and collective expertise to each project. From developing brand new sauna design concepts, supporting planning requirements for complex sites, pioneering use of new, sustainable materials, to arranging deliveries to private home gardens via crane or helicopter, our specialist knowledge sets us apart as industry innovators and leaders, offering the best in outdoor saunas, wellness and contrast therapy.
Materials and Sustainability
Material selection has always been central to how we create. Selecting the best materials for our saunas has always been a priority for us, ensuring an exceptional finish and longevity of the sauna. All materials that we use perform well over time, age gracefully, and align with our responsibility to minimise environmental impact. We prioritise sourcing from close to home, and every sauna is handcrafted using only materials chosen for their suitability, durability and provenance.
All of our timber is sourced locally, from responsibly managed, FSC-certified forests in the UK, within a 150-mile radius of our workshop. Using British-grown timber is made possible by thermal modification – a chemical-free process that heats the wood to 210°C, permanently altering its cellular structure. This improves stability and durability, reduces movement, and creates a rot-resistant material well suited to the heat, moisture and temperature shifts of a sauna environment. The result is timber that is rated to withstand external conditions for decades.
Thermally modified wood was originally developed for sauna construction in Northern Europe and remains widely respected for its performance in high-heat settings. By choosing locally sourced, modified timber, we reduce reliance on imported old-growth material and help support demand for UK forestry, contributing to more sustainable woodland management and the regeneration of local forests.
For insulation, we use natural wool. Alongside its excellent thermal properties for quality insulation, wool is breathable, naturally flame resistant and fully biodegradable. Its production requires only 15% of the energy used to manufacture synthetic alternatives, with qualities that set it apart from the synthetic substitutes. Sourcing wool locally also supports the agricultural communities and sheep farming industries that surround us here in Wales.
Each sauna is finished with a slate plaque sourced from Aberllefenni Slate Quarry, located just twenty minutes from our workshop. The quarry has operated for hundreds of years, and its slate is renowned for its exceptional quality, widely regarded as among the finest in the world. Today, fewer craftspeople than ever specialise in this traditional artisan trade. Through our slate plaques, we are proud to support this heritage industry while also offering our clients a connection to the landscape where our saunas are built and our timber is grown.
“I am absolutely delighted with our Heartwood sauna. This is not just a sauna, but an architectural masterpiece!
It is really high quality and a work of art in the garden, and has made friends and neighbours very envious.It has given the family so much pleasure, and the process of lighting the fire and waiting for it to heat up adds to the anticipatory excitement. Yes, there was a long wait for it due to their handmade production line and popularity, but it has been so worth it. The installation of the sauna was incredibly well organised by Kameron and his team, and the installers on the day were so pleasant and efficient.
This is a brilliant company and delivers exactly what they say they will. I cannot recommend them more highly.”
- Paul, Client
Our Origins
Heartwood Saunas’ founder and director, Olly Davey, grew up surrounded by a rugged landscape of woodland and mountains in the heart of Wales. Combining his passion for an outdoor lifestyle with his craft, he was inspired to design and hand-build his first sauna.
From experiencing the feeling of a sauna following outdoor activities, like mountain biking and paddle boarding, he wondered why the UK didn’t yet have its own sauna culture. Whether it is cold and frosty, or grey and rainy, the sauna’s warm glow draws you in.
The first Heartwood Sauna was a remodel of a ‘traditional’ sauna design. Traditional saunas were largely timber huts with no glazing, but Olly wanted to invite a deeper connection with nature into the sauna bathing experience, by using glazing elements, to allow people to look out at the countryside, the sea, the mountains or their gardens as they relax and enjoy the benefits of the sauna.
“I was inspired to make something a world away from any sauna I’d ever been to here in the UK - something that just didn’t exist here.”
“The Rolls Royce of Outdoor Saunas.
Simply amazing.”
- K J, Client
