Puffin Sauna brings a wood-fired community sauna to Leith Community Croft

Leith Links has gained one of the city's more unusual places to unwind. Puffin Sauna, a converted horse trailer with a wood-fired sauna inside, was due to open at the end of November last year at Leith Community Croft.

The croft is home to the charity Earth in Common, and the sauna sits among the urban croft's vegetable plots, close to its Sunday market, Populus Cafe and regular community events. It is a setting that feels a world away from the buzz of the city. The croft also provides shared growing plots for urban crofters and their families.

Founder Max Schilling has said sauna culture is booming in Scotland and that the team were excited to add to it. He describes Leith Community Croft as the perfect setting for an urban sauna, a community hub where people can come to disconnect from the day-to-day, recover from a gym session or catch up with friends. Wellness, he says, is not exclusive, but for everyone.

Community sessions take small groups of up to six people, and the founder has said the aim is to create a welcoming, relaxed place that is open to all. For those who want the full contrast experience, two cold plunge barrels sit right outside the trailer.

The sauna aims to be welcoming to first-timers as well as seasoned sauna-goers. Its website keeps the process simple: book a slot online, bring swimwear, two towels, flip flops and water, then head to the croft and sweat it out. Bundles of sessions are available for those who want to make it a regular habit.

The croft itself is run as a community space, with shared growing plots, a Sunday market and a cafe, so the sauna fits naturally into a site that is already about wellbeing and getting outdoors.

There is also a playful side to the name. The sauna invites followers to join its colony, noting that a group of puffins can also be called a circus or a puffinry.

With the nights drawing in, a session among the croft's growing plots, followed by a cold plunge under the Leith sky, is a cheerful way to see out a winter evening.

Sessions can be booked on the Puffin Sauna website, and updates are shared on its Instagram page, @puffinsauna.