Garden bathtubs are summer 2025’s status symbol
Whether it’s a 99p eBay bargain or a £9,000 copper tub, there’s nothing more refreshing in a heatwave than alfresco bathing, says Victoria Brzezinski. And when the weather cools, says James Brown, mine is a hot water haven for star-gazing
James Brown on his unexpected garden haven, which offers a surprisingly relaxing retreat under the stars
James Brown: “It was essentially an infinity bath — I could fill it to overflowing”CHRIS MCANDREW FOR THE TIMES Sometimes it takes seeing great things that others have to appreciate what you already have yourself. I recently saw an indoor sauna in an outdoor garden office that was so ergonomically designed, it folded into its surroundings, almost invisible to the passer-by. The office was quite something — great shape, obviously, interestingly clad, view out to the sea but, most notably, the piles of papers and shelves of box files all smelt of sauna. In a nice way.
Heading home, I was so impressed that I phoned my girlfriend to discuss the possibility of having an outdoor sauna myself and, before you know it, my Instagram timeline was full of saunas.
I’d quickly worked out where I would put it in my shingle garden: in the corner just below the outdoor bath. And then it struck me. What the hell did I need a sauna for when I have an outdoor bath? A fast-filling, instant-hot-and-cold, two-steps-across-the-back-deck-from-my-shower-room outdoor bath.
AdvertisementI went home that night, filled it to the very top and spent three hours in it until just gone midnight. The pin-pricked sky stretched out above — no light pollution over Rye Bay, East Sussex, just years and years of stars above.
Did it get cold? No, never, because as I said, you can constantly refill it with very hot water. About ten years ago it occurred to me that, given all that was beneath the bath was decking and shingle, it was essentially an infinity bath — I could fill it to overflowing, fully submerged, and that’s something you can’t do in an indoor bath. Even more relaxing.
• The unstoppable rise of the outdoor bath
The bath was there when I bought the place. I realised at some point that, before then, it had lived in the back bedroom because there was a round hole under the bed where an outflow pipe must have been. I don’t know whose idea the outdoor bath was but it was at least 19 years ago so they were well ahead of the times.
It’s a white Victorian-style bath with a horizontal surround and two basic brass taps screwed into a piece of driftwood that’s fixed to the wooden handrail surrounding the corners of the back deck. When I first arrived that’s all there was, but since then I’ve enclosed it with large dimpled French garden tubs full of mint and lavender, and there’s an elderflower bush that’s grown up the frame around it.
AdvertisementBehind the tubs there’s a row of dense evergreens that divides my house from that of my neighbours, Billy and Alison. It’s close enough for me to hear them chatting and gardening but thick enough for them to not have to witness me getting in and out.
For quite a long time, when the assorted bushes lost their leaves and flowers, I’d lean down, scoop them all out and throw them into the foot of the trees. Then one day I realised: “Mint, lavender, elderflower, evergreens … this is basically what it says on the side of plastic bottles full of bathroom products.”
I was chucking out what people normally pay for in their brightly coloured, gloopy, chemically enhanced versions and since then I haven’t bothered any more. The fragrance adds to the experience. You can bring some hot water in a cup and then just pull off some huge fresh mint leaves for tea. I leave it on the bathside table with books, towels, laptop.
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I’ve spent a lot of time in there watching football matches, reading books and thinking about writing them. And with a pile of books on a chair stationed a foot or so away, there’s enough shade for the screen to be very clear.
Because I rent the house out when I’m not there, the outdoor bath has become a talking point and it’s often mentioned as something new guests’ friends have told them about. A couple of guys who stayed have since moved in down the lane and recreated it in their own back garden, and of course guests have posted lots of photographs of it.
One couple sent a shot of them both in it celebrating an anniversary, another lady sent me her whole family in it and a third guest kindly posted a picture of her drying her dog in it with my favourite Paul Smith towel, which someone had bought me for my birthday.
To make it even more private I recently closed one end off with a woven hazel panel, which pretty much makes it an outdoor bathroom now, just with no roof. It’s two steps away from the real bathroom, which has a great shower but no bath.
No one has ever come round when I’m in it and I can’t really think of anywhere more relaxing to soak. I’ve sadly never been there when it’s snowing but you can’t have everything. Or can you? Run two taps, climb in and you’re away, no infrared cabin in sight.
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