This is the ambitious end of the idea. You don’t have to start here.
The Revelation
The part you walk past
Most gardens have a part nobody really uses. The corner past the shed. The strip down the side. The end of the lawn you mow but rarely stand in.
It isn’t wasted. It just isn’t somewhere yet.
What would it take to turn one part of your garden into somewhere you actually go?
The answer can be much smaller than the picture above.
The Pull-back
You don’t have to do all of this
The garden above shows the full idea: a room, a sauna, a hot tub and a plunge.
But a garden retreat doesn’t have to mean transforming the whole garden.
It can begin with one thing in one part of it.
The three examples below show just how different that can be — from a compact cold-plunge tub occupying about 1.2 m², to a sauna, a wood-fired hot tub, or eventually something much more ambitious.
Start With One Thing
Three ways in
Three different routes are already sold in Ireland, with published prices. They are very different things — and they ask very different things of a garden.
A compact sauna
This is the one that looks as though it should need the most room. It doesn’t necessarily.
As a sense of scale, MyCabin’s Cube Sauna M is 3 metres by 2.17 metres — a little over 6.5 m² — and is sold as a four-to-six-person sauna at a published €9,620 including VAT.
That is one specific product, not a general sauna size. Other models are smaller and larger, and several Irish suppliers do not publish dimensions at all. Across the three suppliers PlotNua checked, published garden-sauna prices run from about €4,649 to €11,650.
Electric heating brings electrical work with it. MyCabin also publishes a €596 wood-fired heater option including the chimney system for this range. Choosing that route changes what has to be accommodated, because it introduces a stove and flue.
Those are product prices, not finished-project costs. The base, electrical connection or other site work may add to what you actually pay.
A wood-fired hot tub
This takes a different route. The water is heated by a wood-burning stove rather than an electric spa system, so there is no electrical connection evidenced for the standard tub itself.
The verified Gardenhouse24 example is about 2.26 metres across — roughly 4 m² of garden space before allowing for access and the stove — with a published base price of €4,340.
But the starting price is not the whole story. The configuration PlotNua checked reached €6,430 once selected options were added. A bubble system alone adds €650.
Those are product prices, not a finished-project cost. The tub still needs a suitable base, space for its wood-burning stove and flue, and safe access around it. Delivery, site preparation and other work should only be treated as included where the supplier explicitly says so.
So the trade-off is different from the sauna: less dependence on electricity, but more to think about around weight, fire and where the stove sits.
A cold plunge
This is the smallest intervention of the three.
The verified Timbertrove cold-plunge tub is 1.25 metres across — about 1.2 m² of garden space — and just over a metre high. Its published price is €1,699.
That price includes the timber tub, waterproof liner, stainless-steel bands, access ladder and matching timber lid. It is available flat-packed or fully assembled, and the supplier states delivery throughout Ireland.
What it does not establish is just as important. PlotNua found no evidence that this model includes mechanical chilling or filtration, and no electrical requirement is published for it. It should therefore be understood as a simple cold-water plunge tub, not a self-chilling spa.
It still needs a suitable level base and somewhere sensible for the water to go when it is emptied.
That is the scale shift: a private cold-water plunge can be a roughly 1.2 m² object at the edge of a garden, rather than a constructed pool.
The Real Question
What each one asks of your garden
Three products PlotNua checked directly. Not averages, not quotes.
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Cold plunge
Product checked
Timbertrove Cold Plunge & Ice Bath
Space
About 1.2 m². 1.25 m across, a metre high.
Base
Level ground. The supplier says no more.
Power, fire, water
None. Fill it, use it, drain it.
Installation
Flat-packed or assembled.
Product price
€1,699
Known extras
None published.
Quote required or not established
Delivery. Capacity, volume, base, warranty.
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Compact sauna
Product checked
MyCabin Cube Sauna M
Space
About 6.5 m². 3 m by 2.17 m.
Base
Level and load-bearing.
Power, fire, water
Electricity. The only one needing an electrician.
Installation
Included by this supplier.
Product price
€9,620 including VAT
Known extras
Wood-fired heater €596, chimney included.
Quote required or not established
Base, connection, the sauna planning question.
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Wood-fired hot tub
Product checked
Gardenhouse24 Hot Tub DeLux 220
Space
About 4 m². 2.26 m across, plus a chimney.
Base
Roughly 1,900 kg full. A concrete base is sold.
Power, fire, water
Wood and water. Electricity only if you add bubbles, lights or a filter.
Installation
A paid option, Ireland-based installer.
Product price
€4,340
Known extras
€6,430 as configured. Bubbles €650.
Quote required or not established
Foundation, installation, drainage, clearances.
The cheapest way in is €1,699 and about a square metre. Only one of the three needs an electrician, and it is not the one with the fire. And the heaviest thing here is the water, not the structure.
The Practical Part
What you need to sort out
Planning
What the rule says
A sauna is a small garden building, so the exempted development rules apply. Two figures matter:
- At least 25 m² of private open space must remain behind the house.
- Structures behind the line of the house are capped at 30 m² in total.
What that means in a real garden
Existing sheds and similar structures count towards the permitted area, so your remaining allowance may be smaller than you think.
Whether a sauna’s heater changes the answer is not something PlotNua can establish. For a definite answer, apply for a Section 5 Declaration — €80 in Dublin City Council when we checked.
A hot tub or plunge tub may not count as a structure at all. We could not find an Irish source that settles this either way, and Building Regulations are unsettled for the same reason. This page does not say any of the three needs permission, or that it does not.
Electricity and fire
A sauna needs an electrician. This is Restricted Electrical Works: it must be done by a Registered Electrical Contractor, you get a completion certificate, and unregistered work carries penalties up to €50,000 and three years. Ask the contractor what your heater needs. Safe Electric publishes the register.
A wood-fired tub puts a 30 kW solid-fuel stove and a 2-metre chimney in the garden. No Irish supplier we checked publishes a clearance distance — how far it should sit from a fence, hedge or boundary. Get that in writing before you decide where it goes.
Base and weight
The sauna and the hot tub both need a proper base. The plunge tub needs level ground; the supplier says no more.
The hot tub is the one to watch: 250 kg empty, 1,650 litres of water, so close to 1,900 kg on about four square metres. Gardenhouse24 sells a concrete base and quotes for the foundation separately.
Water
A hot tub fill is 1,650 litres. No Irish supplier page we read says where that water should go. The plunge tub has a drain outlet, but the route is your problem, and emptying into the same corner will show in the lawn.
Gardenhouse24’s five-year anti-rot warranty depends on following its care guidelines, and no supplier publishes a water-treatment routine. Ask before you buy.
Insurance
Not established. We found no Irish insurer or industry body publishing a position on a garden building with a heater, a garden stove, or a large vessel of water.
The CCPC says buildings cover usually includes outbuildings such as a shed, that improving your home may mean raising your cover, and that exclusions vary. General guidance, and it does not cover any of this.
Tell your insurer before you buy. Ask about the structure, its contents, your liability if someone is hurt, and whether a stove or a lot of water changes anything.
Looking Ahead
How far do you want to take it?
Everything above is what is sold in Ireland now, at published prices. This last part is not evidence. It is the shape of the idea.
One thing in one corner is a complete answer, and for most gardens it is probably the right one.
Some people keep going. A tub one year, a sauna the next, the paving and planting later. That is how a garden like the one at the top of this page gets built: one decision at a time.
PlotNua cannot tell you which of those steps your garden would take. That is the check below, and it is not built yet.
Irish Routes
Where this is sold in Ireland
PlotNua could not find a bespoke garden-retreat builder in Ireland. All three routes are products, bought from suppliers — which is why the prices are published at all.
MyCabin has showrooms in Blessington, Cobh and Wexford, and publishes the sauna sizes and prices above. Gardenhouse24 trades here as ABC Gardenhouse IRL Ltd and publishes the hot tub and its options. Timbertrove works from O’Kelly’s Sawmill in Dublin and publishes the cold plunge.
They are named here because they publish, not because PlotNua rates them. No ranking, no recommendation. Other Irish suppliers exist that PlotNua has not checked.
PlotNua has no commercial relationship with any supplier named on this page, and none was contacted. Everything quoted was read from their own public pages in September 2026.
The Evidence
Where this comes from
Every figure above came from a named source, on a stated date.
Supplier pages, September 2026
MyCabin’s Cube Sauna M page, Gardenhouse24’s Hot Tub DeLux 220 page and Timbertrove’s cold plunge page.
Electricity
The Electricity Regulation Act 1999 as amended, and Safe Electric guidance.
Planning
The published exempted development conditions for garden structures. The €80 Section 5 fee is Dublin City Council’s; fees are set locally.
Insurance
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s published home insurance guidance.
What this evidence does not establish
Whether any of these three is exempted development, or is not. Whether a hot tub or plunge tub counts as a structure at all. The Building Regulations position. Stove and flue clearances. Where the water should go. The Irish insurance position. What a finished project costs. We also found no Irish supplier publishing a price for a chilled plunge or a built plunge pool. And we cannot tell you whether any of this suits your garden — the question that matters most.
