I’ve never been someone who enjoys the cold, so I arrived very late to ice baths. In fact, I had no interest in making myself any colder. My first experience happened completely by chance when a friend invited me to a spa one weekend — or at least that was the only word I really noticed. It turned out to be an ice bath and sauna experience. It was January, and the ice on the bath had to be broken with a sledgehammer before anyone could get in.
I didn’t even want to take off my coat, let alone get into my swimwear and step into the ice. But peer pressure can be powerful. I was the last person in the group to try it, and everyone else had managed it, so I couldn’t back out. The moment I climbed out of that 2 degree water after 2 minutes, I was completely hooked. I felt amazing and knew I had found my thing.
I kept going back to the spa, but it was a long way from home, so I couldn’t visit as often as I wanted. I searched for something similar closer to home, but nothing existed. The more I looked, the more surprised I was that this beautiful part of the Chiltern Hills had nothing to offer for cold water lovers. So I decided to create it myself, opening RESET Wild Spa at Peterley Manor Farm in 2024.
Now, the business has grown across two counties, with sites at P.E. Mead & Sons in Hertfordshire and Stonor Park in Oxfordshire, and I’m loving every second of building and expanding it.