Welcome to Brighton People, a new series from We Love Brighton celebrating the brilliant individuals, organisations, and businesses that make our city shine. Meet Bella Kirkus from Stanmer Sauna Garden CIC. Stanmer Sauna Garden launched at Stanmer Park in 2023. It’s an authentic wood-fired sauna on a woodland plot at Stanmer Organics and the second non-profit sauna in the UK.
Read more: Best Saunas In Brighton
How is the sauna going and what are you focusing on at the moment?
it’s going well! we get amazing feedback from our customers. We’re still new and on permaculture land which we are still making friends with, so we are tentatively opening up a little bit more to offer public sessions. We are also experimenting with different events and collaborations, trying to work with local arts, events and wellbeing groups. We are focussing on developing some wellbeing days for local trans and non-binary groups, for NHS workers, and hopefully social prescribing too. We hope to take our pop-up sauna to local community groups in Bevendean and Whitehawk, to begin, and then much wider.
Who is Stanmer Sauna Garden for and what are your aims?
It’s for everyone, we hope! It’s situated on Stanmer Organics, which is community land set aside for community groups which promote organic farming, sustainability, circular economy, wellbeing, removing barriers to nature and so on. Our aims are to reflect these values as much as possible, as well as providing a really affordable and inclusive organic wellbeing retreat space. Sauna and nature are so immensely positive for holistic health that we want all people to be able to have it!
What makes Stanmer Sauna Garden stand out?
First and foremost is our non-profit status. We are a real community sauna, providing real benefits to the community. We have volunteer days, in which we spend time in nature, learn the art of sauna hosting and have some education about sauna benefits. We also do some fun and bonkers little adventures.
Our second standout is our location. Stanmer Organics is a fabulous, unpretentious, off-grid nature paradise, situated in Stanmer Park, which is the Gateway to the Downs. a conservation area of considerable natural, archaeological, historical and cultural significance. It means that you will have the benefit of nature at its best, and the local area, which has One Garden with all its amenities and stunning gardens, and the quaint old-fashioned village village with the teashop and orchard and barns.
Thirdly, it’s our customers. What a bunch of absolute lovelies they are.
What do you love about Brighton?
We’ve got everything! We have sea, hills, green spaces, hedonism, recovery, self-development and academia, arts, sports, and city. The universities and colleges provide us with a constant stream of creatives and interesting people. There’s so much to learn, see, do here.
We are also inclusive. I’m so proud to live in a city that has so many LGBTQ+ folk. Our Trans Pride was the biggest in the world last year. We can rightly be proud of our Pride.
We are surrounded by absolutely stunning countryside with many microclimates. Stanmer is very different to the city centre but only six miles away and a fairly quick bus ride from the Steine! There are world class vinyards nearby!
Diversity is our strongest value in Brighton.
I’ve lived in Brighton since 1990, mostly. I moved here without ever setting foot here! I’ve seen a lot of change.
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To be considered for Brighton People, reach out to us: hello [at] welovebrighton.com.
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