A wood stove burning in the rest room, with a glass wall onto the lake and the pines
Mist lying on the dark water of Ellery Water below a pine forest

Heat, cold, and the quiet after.

A sauna and bathing house on the north shore of Ellery Water. Four saunas, a lake that stays cold all year, and nothing you need to bring.

Book a day Walk the round
Sauna
86°
Lake
7°
Open today
08:00–22:00

The house

Leave the cityat the shore,come back slower

Brume began with a smoke sauna, a jetty and one rule: no phones past the changing room. Ten years on the rule has not changed. You move between heat and cold water until your head goes quiet, then rest by the stove and watch the mist lift off the lake.

How the house was built
Steam rising from hot stones as water is poured from a ladle
Rings spreading on still lake water at dusk
Low light along the benches of the window sauna

The round

One round,three temperatures

Bathers here follow an old order. Repeat it three or four times; nobody keeps count but you.

  1. Step 1

    Heat

    Twelve minutes on the upper bench.

    Sit high and breathe slowly. Pour water on the stones when the room asks for it, and let the heat climb until your shoulders drop.

    8–15 min · 80–95 °C

  2. Step 2

    Cold

    Twenty steps to the lake.

    Walk out along the jetty and go in to the shoulders. For one minute the cold shuts every thought out; that is the point of it.

    1–2 min · 4–16 °C

  3. Step 3

    Rest

    As long as it takes.

    Wrap up by the stove, drink something warm and say nothing. The calm that arrives now is the reason you came.

    15–20 min · by the window

A bather pours a ladle of water onto the hot stones
A round hole cut through snow and ice into the dark lake
A guest resting under a wool blanket with a warm drink by the window

Saunas

Four rooms,coldest to hottest

Each room keeps its own heat and its own pace. Start low; the smoke sauna is for the third round.

  1. 4–16 °C

    The jetty

    Open lake water off our own jetty, with a ladder and a rope line out to the buoys. In winter we keep a channel open through the ice.

    Stay
    1–2 minutes
    Depth
    3.5 m at the ladder
    Two swimmers in an ice channel on the lake at dusk
  2. 48 °C

    Herb steam

    A tiled steam room scented with birch and juniper from the shore. Soft and wet, gentle enough for a first round.

    Stay
    10–15 minutes
    Seats
    10
    A cloud of steam rolling off the stove in a pine-lined room
  3. 80 °C

    Window sauna

    A long glass wall faces the lake, so you watch the water you are about to walk into. Dry heat, three tiers, room for a conversation in whispers.

    Stay
    8–12 minutes
    Seats
    14
    Pale wooden benches beside a tall window onto the frozen lake
  4. 95 °C

    Smoke sauna

    Heated for six hours with alder, aired, then sealed. A soft, deep heat and the smell of smoke on your skin all evening. Thursday to Sunday from three.

    Stay
    As you can
    Seats
    8
    Dark log walls, hot stones and a water bucket in the smoke sauna

Löyly

Water on the stones. A breath of heat rolls off the ceiling and the room goes quiet.

In Finnish this breath is called löyly. Our sauna masters pour every twenty minutes, with birch, mint or tar, and nobody speaks while it settles.

The lake

The boardwalk across the reeds disappearing into fog and pines

The fifth roomhas no walls

Ellery Water is fed by springs and stays cold even in August. A boardwalk crosses the reeds to our jetty, the ladder goes down three and a half metres, and from December a stove burns at the end of the ice channel.

  • Boardwalk to the jetty, sixty-four metres
  • Ladder and rope line out to the buoys
  • Ice channel from December to March
  • A lifeguard on the jetty at weekends
Morning mist over the lake and the pines on the far shore A lit cabin on the water at night below dark mountains

A day

A day at Brume,mist to lanterns

  1. Doors open with the mist still on the water. Coffee and rye bread by the stove.

  2. First round. The window sauna is quiet and the lake lies flat as glass.

  3. Lunch at the long table: soup of the day, smoked trout, pickles from the cellar.

  4. The smoke sauna opens. Our sauna masters pour with birch, mint and tar.

  5. Lanterns go out along the jetty and the evening swimmers arrive from town.

  6. Last call at the stove. The house goes dark and the lake keeps the quiet.

The table

The long tableby the stove

Food here is simple and warm: what grows around the lake, what our smokehouse makes, and what the baker in Holm sends over at seven.

  • Soup of the day

    Mushroom, nettle or roots, with rye and cultured butter

    £9

  • Smoked trout

    From our smokehouse, with new potatoes and dill

    £14

  • Rye and butter

    Dark rye baked in Holm, salted butter, pickled cucumber

    £5

  • Birch-leaf tea

    With nettle and honey, poured all day by the stove

    £3

  • Sea-buckthorn tonic

    Sharp, cold and orange, for after the lake

    £4

Slices of dark rye in a wooden bowl beside butter and seeds
A black iron teapot on a wooden table in low sun
A bowl of mushroom soup held in both hands

The house

The bathhouse on stilts at the water's edge, its glass rest room lit at dusk

A house builtfor the weather

Charred larch outside, alder and aspen inside, glass wherever the lake is. The house sits low on its stilts so the mist rolls under it, and every bench in it faces the water.

We heat with wood from our own forest, and rain from the roof fills the cold tubs. In winter the snow on the roof tells you which room is hottest.

Come and see it

Passes

Chooseyour hours

Every pass includes a robe, towels, all four saunas, the lake and tea by the stove.

  • Morning

    –, coffee and rye at the stove

    £38

    Book a morning

  • Full day

    –, lunch at the long table included

    £64

    Book a full day

  • Evening

    –, lanterns on the jetty and the smoke sauna

    £42

    Book an evening

Under-16s bathe free with an adult on weekend mornings. Ten-visit cards and gift cards for any pass are sold at the desk and by email.

Questions

Beforeyour first round

Do I need to book?

Weekends and evenings fill up, so book ahead. On weekday mornings you can usually walk in; ask at the desk.

What should I bring?

Nothing at all. A robe, towels, slippers and a locker are included. Bring a swimsuit if you prefer one for the lake.

Is bathing mixed?

Yes, every day except Tuesday evenings, which are for women only. Swimwear or a towel in all shared rooms.

I am new to saunas. Where do I start?

Begin in the herb steam and keep the first rounds short. A host walks first-timers through the round at ten and at three.

Can I come if I am pregnant or have a heart condition?

Please ask your doctor first. The steam room and the rest room are gentle; the smoke sauna and the lake are not.

Do you sell gift cards?

Yes, for any pass, by email or at the desk. They are valid for a year from the day you buy them.

Visit

Forty minutesfrom the city

Take the train to Holm, then our shuttle from the station (six minutes) or the shore path on foot (twenty-five). There is parking for twelve cars behind the woodshed.

Address
Example Lane 1
Holm, on Ellery Water
Hours
Daily 08:00–22:00
Smoke sauna Thu–Sun from 15:00

Request a day

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