39BC DAY TRIP TO BATHER'S CABIN
On Tuesday 23rd June, on a swelteringly hot day in the Sussex countryside, 39BC partnered with Architect’s Holiday to celebrate the opening of Bather’s Cabin, a new architect-designed retreat dedicated entirely to the art of bathing.
Together, we gathered a small group of artists, designers, makers, photographers and founders for a day spent moving between saunas, cold water, woodland and conversation.
The success of the day became apparent within minutes of arrival. Before the sauna was lit or lunch was served, guests were already wandering the grounds, peering into cabins, sitting quietly by the stream and remarking on the atmosphere of the place. The Sussex countryside had done what the best hospitality always does: it shifted everyone’s sense of time. Nobody seemed in a hurry to be anywhere else.
Joining us were painter Alfred Bramsen; furniture maker Byron Pritchard; costume designer Cobbie Yates; movement director, choreographer and dancer Harry Alexander; photographer and filmmaker James O'Connor; model and fitness tastemaker Manawa Owens; and personal trainer Warren Whiteley. Together, they brought a wonderful range of perspectives to the day, from movement and design to craftsmanship, storytelling and contemporary culture.
Architect’s Holiday was founded by architects Will Gowland and Harry Kay, the company began as an experiment. After years designing buildings for clients, the pair wanted somewhere to test their own ideas about architecture, sustainability and wellbeing. What emerged was a collection of highly considered cabins hidden amongst the woods and farmland of Great Park Farm in East Sussex. Rather than creating another luxury hotel, they asked a different question: what if the experience itself became the architecture?
Their latest additions, Bather’s Cabin and Yogi’s Cabin, opened earlier this year and represent the next chapter of that vision. Bookings launched for stays from May 2026, with both cabins designed around a specific ritual rather than a traditional hospitality programme.
Bather’s Cabin is exactly what its name suggests: a celebration of bathing. Tucked into one of the most secluded corners of the woodland, the cabin revolves around water. Inside, a deep grey soaking bath overlooks the trees. Above, a rooftop deck houses a sauna, shower and ice bath, creating a private bathing circuit amongst a zen inspired rock garden. The building itself draws inspiration from traditional agricultural drying sheds found across South East England, reimagined through blackened timber, natural materials and an almost monastic simplicity.
Beyond the cabins themselves, The Drying Shed Sauna may be the most quietly beautiful structure on the site. Half-hidden amongst silver birch and long grasses, it sits beside a stream that threads through the landscape like a ribbon. Guests move from the cedar-scented warmth of the sauna into cold plunge pools fed by spring water, which overflow gently back into the brook below. Nothing feels imposed upon the landscape. Water arrives, lingers briefly, then continues its journey. There is a pleasing lack of spectacle. The luxury lies in birdsong, timber weathering in the sun, and the shock of cold water on hot skin.
Guests moved between the saunas and ice baths with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Some lasted seconds in the cold water. Others seemed determined to prove a point. From the rooftop, you could look out across the landscape and see nothing but woodland and sky. It felt remarkably private for somewhere only 90 minutes from central London.
Just across the site sits Yogi’s Cabin, which offers a completely different mood. Designed around a central yoga studio, the building opens onto a spring-fed swimming pond and is wrapped by a timber deck inspired by the Japanese engawa, the transitional space between indoors and outdoors. Large sliding doors frame views of the surrounding woodland, while a handmade soaking bath sits quietly beside the water.
Where Bather’s Cabin encourages movement between extremes, Yogi’s Cabin invites stillness.
Throughout the day, guests drifted between the three areas. Some disappeared for solitary swims. Others settled into long conversations on the decks. There was no agenda beyond enjoying the place itself.
Lunch was served in Cabin X beneath an almost impossibly blue sky. Plates of seasonal salads, roasted chicken, bread and cheese scones from the Great Park Farm Shop appeared while conversations stretched from architecture and craftsmanship to design, creativity and travel.
The site naturally encourages people to slow down and we wanted a day without rules or programming. The cabins, ponds, pathways and woodland create a rhythm that feels very different from most contemporary hospitality experiences. Nobody seemed interested in checking their phones. Nobody was rushing towards the next thing.
For 39BC, the partnership felt particularly natural. Architect’s Holiday has created a place centred around ritual, recovery and connection with nature. We simply arrived with the community and the cleansing.
DENARII found its home in the heat of the sauna and hot baths. SAGE WATER sat beside cool water and open air.
As guests boarded the train back to London that evening, sun-soaked and well prepped for a good nights sleep, there was a sense that we had stumbled across something increasingly rare: a place designed not to help you do more, but to help you do less.
And on the hottest day of the year, that felt like exactly what everyone needed.
39BC is now available at Bather’s & Yogi’s Cabin at Architects Holiday. Book your stay now.