SLIPAWAY

Wood-fired sauna & cold plunge

Slipaway into stillness.

Fire on one side of the glass, the water on the other. A sauna carried in a steel hull to the water's edge, where the only thing left to do is let go.

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No.1 Tyne · North East England

The experience

The stove crackles. Aspen warms under your shoulders. Through the window the water moves. Then the cold, sharp and clean, and the deep, slow quiet that comes after it.

The ritual

Four movements, as old as fire.

  1. i.

    Heat

    80–90 °C

    Wood-fired warmth that softens the shoulders and slows the breath. Ladle water on the stones and feel the löyly roll over you.

  2. ii.

    Plunge

    Around 5 °C

    Step out and into the cold. A few seconds that wake every nerve and empty the mind completely.

  3. iii.

    Rest

    Open air

    Wrapped up on the deck, fresh air on your skin, heart settling. This is where the stillness arrives.

  4. iv.

    Return

    Again

    Go round once more, or twice. Each round goes deeper. You leave lighter than you came.

The name

Born on the Tyne.

For more than a century the River Tyne built ships that crossed the world. Each one began life on a slipway: the sloping stone ramp where a hull slides into the water for the first time.

And when a ship grew weary, it came home the same way: drawn gently from the water to rest, to be cared for, and to set out again renewed.

Into the water, and back out restored. That is the whole idea of Slipaway.

  1. 1871

    The Wallsend Slipway

    The Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company opens at Point Pleasant on the Tyne, a place where ships came ashore to be cared for and restored.

  2. 1906

    A legend goes down the ways

    RMS Mauretania is launched at Wallsend, with engines built by the Wallsend Slipway. She would become the fastest ship on the Atlantic.

  3. slipway

    Where you enter the water

    A slipway is where a boat goes in. Ours is where you do: heat, then the cold plunge, then calm.

  4. slip away

    The feeling

    To drift, to let the day fall off you, to leave the shore for an hour. The name says it before you arrive.

Boats use a slipway to slide into the water, and to come ashore to be restored. So do we.

The room

Built like a ship. Finished like a cabin.

Outside, a weathered steel hull clad in dark thermo-wood. Inside, pale aspen, low amber light and the smell of woodsmoke. Eight seats, never crowded, and a window to the water that becomes a lantern at dusk.

  • FireA real wood-burning stove, never electric
  • WoodSmooth thermo-aspen benches, cool to the touch
  • LightWarm, dimmed and hidden under the benches
  • ViewA wide window onto the water and sky
  • ColdTwo deep cold plunges, chilled and filtered
  • HostedSmall sessions, with a host on hand
The Wow Window

The fleet

Each sauna is named with its origins in mind.

Like the ships before them, our saunas travel. The first is launched on the Tyne. Others will follow to rivers and shores across Britain.

  • No.1TyneLaunching first
  • No.2ThamesTo follow
  • No.3MerseyTo follow
  • No.4SevernTo follow

Founding members

Be among the first in the heat.

Before No.1 Tyne opens its doors, one hundred founding members will be invited in first. When the places are gone, they are gone.

  • Only 100 places, each with its own number
  • Your own numbered steel bottle and felt sauna hat
  • A private launch night, for founding members only
  • A say in shaping the future of Slipaway as it grows
  • Your founding rate, locked for as long as you stay
About founding membership

Founding membership

One hundred founding places.

Slipaway No.1 Tyne will open to a hundred founding members before anyone else. They will be the first in the heat, the first in the cold, and part of the story from the very first fire.

We will never offer founding places again.

100of 100 places remaining

Preview: the live count starts when invitations open.

SLIPAWAY No.007 FOUNDING MEMBER
Your founding bottle · illustration

What founding members receive

Yours, and no one else's.

  • Only one hundred

    A hundred places, never reopened. When the last one is taken, founding membership closes for good.

  • Your own steel bottle

    Each member holds a number from No.001 to No.100, engraved on a steel water bottle made to come with you into every session.

  • Your founding sauna hat

    A felted wool sauna hat, made only for founding members and marked with your number. It keeps your head cool in the heat and hangs on the deck between rounds.

  • A private launch night

    An evening by the fire for founding members only, before the doors open to anyone else.

  • Help shape Slipaway

    Slipaway is a design that keeps growing. Founding members are asked first: test new ideas, share your thoughts, and help shape every detail, from the rituals to the next sauna in the fleet. We believe continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

  • Your rate, locked in

    Your founding rate stays the same for as long as you remain a member.

How it works

From invitation to first fire.

  1. i.

    Request

    Leave your name and email. It takes a moment and commits you to nothing.

  2. ii.

    Invitation

    Invitations go out in the order requests arrive, until all hundred places are held.

  3. iii.

    Your number

    Accept your place and receive your founding number, engraved on your own steel bottle and marked on your founding sauna hat.

  4. iv.

    First fire

    Join us for the private launch night, then help us shape what Slipaway becomes.

Hold your place.

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Our principles

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.

Seven promises we make to every guest, every shore and every session. They guide each decision we take, from the first fire to the last sauna in the fleet.

  1. i.

    Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection

    We open, we listen, and we get better. Every session teaches us something, and our founding members help us decide what comes next.

  2. ii.

    Stillness first

    Small groups, no rush, and no phones in the heat. Time here is for slowing down.

  3. iii.

    Real fire, real water

    A wood-burning stove and a proper cold plunge. Nothing fake, nothing hurried.

  4. iv.

    Leave the shore as we found it

    We arrive by crane, leave without a mark, and are powered by the sun wherever we can.

  5. v.

    Always hosted

    A trained host on site every session, for safety and a warm welcome, with privacy at the forefront of each session.

  6. vi.

    Rooted in the Tyne

    Proud of the river's shipbuilding history, and working with local makers and artists wherever we go.

  7. vii.

    A quiet inbox

    We know how annoying a full inbox is. We only email when it really matters.

If this sounds like you.

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