A sauna and cold plunge pool in Galway and the west, on bog, rock and open water

Bog, rock and what stands on them

Much of Connemara stands on blanket bog, peat that compresses and drains slowly, and the Burren in north Clare on limestone pavement that does not take a post at all. Both ask for the base to be designed first: a slab or a set of piles on peat, anchors drilled into rock, a deck that spreads its load. A ground investigation or a local contractor's knowledge saves more money here than anywhere else we work. We ask for it at the start, not at the end.

Shannon Airport is the nearest Met Éireann station we checked to Galway: its 1991–2020 figures are 1,019.7 mm of rain a year, a July mean daily maximum of 19.5 °C and a January mean daily minimum of 3.3 °C, and Valentia on the Atlantic edge has 1,646.5 mm. The west is wetter than Dublin by a good margin, and the wind adds to it.

Anchored like a boat

With nothing between the cabin and the Atlantic, the wind is the first design load. The cabin is low, flat-roofed and tied to its base, the deck is tied to the ground, and the glass is toughened and sized for the exposure. A cover on the plunge pool must be lifted in a gale by one person and weighted so it stays down. Everything that can be unscrewed is stainless, and the first thing we check after a storm is the roof edge.

Salthill and the swimmers of the bay

Galway's swimmers use the Salthill promenade and the diving tower in every month. A sauna and a cold plunge are the warm and the cold of the same habit, and households in the west have the cold half waiting in the sea. A glass cabin of four to six seats with a hook for each robe and a cover for the boots completes it. See from sea swimming to sauna and cold dip.

Lodges, hotels and farm stays

Connemara and Clare are dotted with lodges and country hotels that sell silence and landscape. A glass cabin with a view of a lough and a plunge pool in the bog garden are the new amenity: no queue, no booking system, just a rota and a plant room. See boutique hotels.

Islands and ferries

The Aran Islands, Inishbofin and Achill add a ferry or a bridge to the delivery. Crates travel by road to the slip, by boat to the island and by tractor to the plot, which is why island projects are priced and scheduled separately. We ask for the ferry schedule and the lifting equipment available at the island pier.

A sample for a lough-side cabin

Seasons on the Atlantic edge

Winter is when the west is itself: wind, rain, bright cold days and a cabin lit from inside. Spring brings the first tourists and the first long evenings. Summer is soft, light until late and rarely hot, and a plunge pool is as much a pleasure as the sea. Autumn is storm season again. We draw for the winter, and the summer takes care of itself.

What the west does to a careless drawing

• A foundation designed for firm ground on a plot that is bog. Settlement shows at the first frost.
• A roof that is not tied down. On an open site the wind finds the edge of anything loose.
• A deck with no drain. Water stays in every gap and the timber stays wet all year.
• An island delivery planned like a mainland one. The ferry, the pier and the tractor are part of the schedule.

Peat, anchors and a ground investigation

A ground investigation on a Connemara plot is not an extravagance. A few probes tell you how deep the peat is, what is under it and whether piles or a raft will do. The cost is small against a deck that settles. We ask for the result with the plot, and design the base from it.

What we need to know about a plot in the west

1. Which townland or parish, and is the plot on bog, rock or a made-up field?
2. How exposed is it, and from which direction does the wind arrive?
3. How far is the electrical board from the deck, in metres?
4. What is the road in: tarmac, boreen, a track across a field?
5. Is there a swimming spot, a slipway or a shore that the household already uses?

The lough-side sample pairs a six-seat cabin with an oval tub: both are in the price list, and the kit builder adds the chiller.