Could an outdoor sauna on the beach be the new pub?

Harri Barker has helped to bring saunas to the Gower

They are more commonly spotted in the corners of gyms and luxury hotels - but saunas are starting to pop up on the Welsh coast.

Swansea's Gower peninsula in winter may seem like a strange place to relax in your swimsuit, but more and more people are visiting, keen to chase away the rainy day blues.

It is the Scandinavian model being followed - where people can move from the cold of the sea, quickly to the warm.

The British Sauna society (BSS) was set up almost 10 years ago with a focus on bringing the authentic sauna to the UK, and said numbers have doubled, with an increasing amount outside.

It believes these could potentially replace pubs and community centres which are closing - but what is the appeal?

‘’It is time away from your phone, time away from the rush of everyday life," Harri Barker told BBC Wales Live.

"It kind of brings you back to earth a little bit.’’

She set up Ty Sawna on the Gower in 2022, with one of they reasons being its connection to nature.

‘’That is what it's all about,’’ she added.

‘’It can be sunny, raining, snowing or stormy, but you just sit in the sauna and it's like a portal that takes you somewhere else.’

"It’s an activity which encourages others to get outside during the winter season.

‘’When a lot of people find it really difficult to cope over the colder months, it’s a way to get people out and meeting new people.’’

With two saunas at Oxwich Bay, Harri is on the sands at 06:00 most mornings during the winter, stoking the fire and setting up.

Regular visitors include a group of cold water swimmers, and she said the combination of the hot and cold immersion keeps people coming back.

‘’There is no feeling quite like it," Harri said.

‘’It's just this buzz that you get, this natural high.’’

It may be cold outside, but it is relaxing inside with a sea view

Secretary of the BSS Gabrielle Reason said there is a real difference between these saunas and the ones commonly seen in the UK.

‘’The normal ones tend to be in the corner of a gym or in a hotel," she said.

‘’People will sit in there, they'll get hot, uncomfortable and think 'that's enough'.

‘’A lot of time if you go into a badly built sauna you don’t even access the benefits.’’

She explained that the Finnish and Scandinavian style involves a more cyclical approach to the activity - moving from hot to cold and repeating this for up to an hour and a half.

Gabrielle said that some research suggests this traditional sauna experience could be good for our physical health.

‘’We are doing some of the same things for our body that exercise would do," she added.

Gabrielle added some people have suggested it is like going into a therapy room, adding: ‘’When you look at what has been happening in the UK - the closing of pubs and community centres - I think it has potential to actually start replacing those things.’’

Could saunas appear in more locations around the coast?

‘’I would say the biggest benefit is a reduction in blood pressure," said Dr Tom Cullen, an assistant professor in Applied Physiology at Coventry University.

‘’It’s particularly important in a Western society, where we're typically highly stressed and often have a poor diet.

‘’You also see large improvements to vascular function as well.’’

He has been studying the impact of heat therapy and the health benefits it can have, but stressed it cannot replace exercise.

‘’If you compare things like weight loss, which is a real goal of lots of people that exercise, for example, you're not likely to see much benefit," Dr Cullen added.

Ryan Stephens says you can meet people from all walks of life

Ryan Stephens is the founder of sea dipping group, the Wet Bandits, who are one of the regular visitors to Ty Sawna.

‘’The conversations you end up having in the sauna tend to be really deep, meaningful and are usually focused on health and wellbeing,’’ he said.

‘’You meet people from all different walks of life.

''It breaks down barriers and allows people to connect at a really genuine level.''

It has become a favourite hobby of Oliver Bailey

’It's so different compared to going to the pub or even going for a walk in the park," said cold dipper Oliver Bailey.

‘’It really stands out. It's just wild.’’

'Like the gym or doing yoga'

While Ty Sawna and many other outdoor saunas are currently on the coast, the BSS sees no reason why they cannot spread to other locations.

‘’We want people to see this as a health activity like going to the gym or going to a yoga lesson,’’ secretary Gabrielle said.

‘’I think a lot of the saunas cropping up have attracted white, middle class people but there's definitely people who are looking to push that.’

‘’There are projects looking at getting social prescribers to start recommending it as a preventative health measure.’’

You can watch more of this story on BBC Wales Live, available on iPlayer.