We’re rather taken with the outdoor bath beside the trees. There’s something pleasantly unlikely about a bath with a chimney: a familiar bit of household comfort, but very much out of the house. The timber screen gives it a corner of its own without shutting the farm out.
What appeals to us is the combination of a solid, practical object and a slightly indulgent idea. A bath isn’t essential farm equipment. We can’t put it in the same category as a fencepost, however generously we interpret the job description. But making a place your own needn’t be entirely about the things you have to do. There’s room to enjoy the way a corner comes together, too.
The Alpine Tubs name is on the heater. The company makes wood-fired tubs with timber cladding and a stainless-steel liner, with a wood burner supplying the heat. It’s an interesting alternative to the usual bathroom arrangement: the heat source becomes part of the design, rather than disappearing behind a wall. Here, the tall guarded flue is as much a part of the bath’s outline as the curved timber sides.
We like the screening for a similar reason. It gives one side a definite boundary, but leaves the space open to the trees. A whole new room would change this spot much more. This is still an outdoor corner, with grass and bare ground around it, rather than an interior carried outside and sealed off again. That suits our taste rather well.
There’s been plenty of practical making in the Riverdell story, including the farm-timber bench and stairs. This corner has a different appeal. We can appreciate a useful seat or a sound set of steps and still have a soft spot for a bath beside the bush. The bath may be the unusual object here, but the setting is what makes the idea work for us.