Former lorry driver opens sauna and ice bath retreat near Trowbridge

Isaac Bradbrooke is moving from lorry driving into wellness with BePresent, a sauna and ice bath retreat he is preparing to open at Marsh Farm near Trowbridge on July 1. The 37-year-old has put around £20,000 into the project, which is being pitched as a small, local place to unwind rather than a glossy city spa.

BePresent is described on its own website as a micro retreat at Marsh Farm in Trowbridge, with a traditional Finnish-style sauna, an outdoor ice bath and space to slow down, switch off and invest in wellbeing. The booking pages list the site as Marsh Farm, Marsh Road, Hilperton Marsh, Hilperton, Trowbridge, and separate the offer into private booking and communal sauna use. That split matters in a market where cold therapy is often marketed either as an exclusive recovery add-on or as a more social ritual; Bradbrooke is trying to serve both.

The setting gives the project a different feel from the polished recovery clubs found in bigger cities. Marsh Farm is already a mixed-use site with storage, moorings and a café, so BePresent is slotting into a working local destination rather than a purpose-built luxury wellness complex. In that sense, the retreat looks aimed at ordinary day-to-day use, the sort of sauna-and-plunge stop that can fit around errands, lunch, or a quick reset after work.

That local positioning also puts BePresent alongside another Trowbridge business already trading on contrast therapy. Relax Recover advertises sauna and ice bath services and describes itself as Wiltshire’s only fully private wellness spa. The contrast suggests there is enough appetite in the area for more than one model, from private recovery sessions to shared, community-style sauna use.

For Bradbrooke, the move is more than a business launch. It is a bet that ice bathing is widening beyond athletes, influencers and urban wellness early adopters, and finding a place in smaller towns where people want the same heat-cold reset without the premium club atmosphere. BePresent’s farm setting, mixed booking options and modest scale point to a version of the trend built for local leisure, and Bradbrooke’s former life behind the wheel makes the shift into that world feel all the more pointed.