UK’s Largest Beach Spa set to open at Folkestone Harbour Arm
Facilities will include two wood-fired saunas, two chilled plunge pools and a hot tub with jacuzzi
The UK’s largest beach spa will open at Folkestone Harbour Arm in March 2026.
Set directly on the shingle with uninterrupted views across the English Channel, the new beach spa offers a large-scale, immersive wellness experience combining heat, cold and wild sea swimming.
Facilities will include two wood-fired saunas, two chilled plunge pools, a hot tub with jacuzzi, indoor changing rooms, indoor and outdoor showers and traditional bucket showers, all with direct access to wild swimming in the English Channel. It will also have a dedicated event space for classes and special events, all serviced by a new wellness cafe.
The new spa will be operated by Sea Scrub Sauna (@seascrubsauna), which was founded by cousins Robin Bartlett, a cold-water swimmer and volunteer for the RNLI, and Luke Sinclair, who lives in Oslo, Norway amid a recent resurgence of sauna culture.
They have helped to pioneer Scandinavian sauna culture across Kent with a distinctly British coastal twist, in Margate, Whitstable and Faversham. The Folkestone beach spa is their largest and most ambitious site so far.
Robin Bartlett, Co-founder of Sea Scrub Sauna, said: “Wild swimming and beach sauna culture are no longer niche; they’re becoming a way of life. Folkestone has been one of our most requested locations by our members, so to bring our biggest and most expansive site here feels incredibly exciting. This spa allows us to fully realise the potential of what Sea Scrub can be, while staying rooted in nature, community and the sea.”
Paulo Kingston-Correia, General Manager at Folkestone Harbour & Seafront Development Company, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the UK’s largest beach spa to Folkestone Harbour Arm. It adds a completely new wellness dimension to our already vibrant mix of food, drink and free events on the Harbour Arm. We’re particularly excited that, in our ongoing mission to reinvent the English seaside experience, Sea Scrub Sauna are bringing something different, rejuvenating and wholly unique to our site that is best enjoyed in the colder months.”
A one-hour session will be priced from £17. A full programme of special events, including guided full moon events, special sessions mark the winter and summer solstice, and new moon cacao ceremonies, will be announced when the site opens.
