How is a garden sauna delivered?

A garden sauna arrives flat, as parts on a single pallet, and the lorry sets that pallet down at the kerb or on the nearest firm, level ground its pallet truck can reach. From there the parts are carried by hand to a base that is already laid. Across Tarnfell's outdoor range that is a two person job on the smaller cabins and a three to four person job on the larger ones, and the figures published on each product page let you work out which one you are booking before you order.

How does a garden sauna actually arrive?

On a pallet, by lorry, and no further than the kerb.

Tarnfell's delivery page states that deliveries of this size are kerbside by default, with the item coming off the lorry to a safe point at your property, and that delivery is included in the price for mainland Britain. The Scottish Highlands and Islands, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are quoted individually. Installation is offered only where the manufacturer provides it, and where it exists it is noted on that product's page and arranged at the time of order. Each product page carries its own lead time.

Before anything is dispatched, the access route is confirmed: where the largest vehicle can park, the narrowest width and the lowest height on the route from there to the sauna's final position, whether the ground is grass, gravel or paving, whether there are steps, and who will be present on the day. That conversation happens after you order and before the pallet is booked, which is the point at which an access problem is still straightforward to solve.

What comes off the pallet, and how many people does it take?

Not a sauna. Parts.

The Harvia Kuusi 180 Panorama is the clearest illustration in the range. Its page puts the pallet at 2.2 by 1.2 by 0.87 metres and about 550kg before the heater and stones, and lists what is on it: 67 staves, the two end walls with the door and window already fitted, the benches, the floor grid and the boxed heater. Two people carry all of that to the base, then put it together over a weekend with a drill, a mallet and a spirit level.

Set that against the Holl's Hestia 160, which its page puts at 649kg on the pallet and describes as a three to four person job rather than a two person one. It is 99kg heavier than the barrel, so the total weight is not what separates them. The barrel breaks down into 67 pieces one person can carry at a time. The cabin arrives as wall sections.

Cabin	Price	On the pallet	Kerb to base	Base laid first
France Sauna Gaïa Urban	£3,995	about 345kg	Two people	1.5 × 1.3m
Almost Heaven Audra	£6,240	about 325kg	Two people	Load bearing, rated above 454kg
France Sauna Gaïa Nova	£6,549		Three to four people	2.05 × 2.05m
Harvia Kuusi 180 Panorama	from £6,660	about 550kg, before heater and stones	Two people	1.6m square, or two strip footings
Holl's Hestia 160	£7,990	649kg	Three to four people	2.05 × 1.60m
Holl's Onyxia Barrel	£10,995		Three to four people	2.25 × 2.4m

Blank cells are cabins whose loaded weight is not among the figures currently published on the page; the people count and the base size are. Prices read 24 September 2026, other figures 23 September 2026.

Read the last two columns together and a pattern appears. The cabins asking for a base of about 1.9 metres or less in their longest dimension are the ones their makers put at two people, and the cabins asking for about 2.05 metres or more are the ones put at three to four. That is an inference from the published figures rather than a rule any manufacturer states, but both numbers sit on the same product page, so it takes a moment to check against the cabin you are actually considering.

What do I measure my access against?

Not the cabin's external dimensions, which is the figure the product page puts in front of you and the one most people instinctively carry out to the side gate.

The finished Kuusi 180 Panorama is a 2.2 metre barrel. Nothing 2.2 metres across ever travels down your path, because the barrel is built in position from staves. The dimension that has to clear your narrowest point is the largest single part, which on most of these cabins is an end wall or a glazed wall section. Ask for that figure before you order, and measure the route against it rather than against the assembled cabin.

The pallet's own footprint matters for a different reason: it decides where the driver can set it down. A pallet 2.2 by 1.2 metres needs firm, level ground a pallet truck can reach, which in practice means the road, the drive or a hard standing rather than a lawn.

The route itself, and the drainpipe or wall tap that narrows it a few metres past the gate, is covered in our Journal piece on access, ground and the day the lorry arrives.

What has to be ready before the pallet arrives?

Two things, and both take longer to arrange than the delivery does.

The base comes first. Every outdoor cabin in the range specifies a flat, load bearing slab or paved area of a stated size, and the pages say it should be laid before the pallet arrives. That puts groundwork at the start of the timeline rather than the end. The sizes in the table are what the cabin itself stands on and make no allowance for working room around it while it is being built. Which base type suits which maker is set out in our guide to what base a garden sauna needs.

The electrical circuit comes second. Each cabin's page names the dedicated circuit its heater needs, from 20 amps on the 4.5kW cabins up to 40 amps on the 8 and 9kW ones, and states that it must be installed and certified by a qualified electrician. That is a booked visit from a registered tradesperson, and the work has to be done before first use rather than on the day. Our advice is to get the electrician's date in the diary before the delivery date, because it is the part of this sequence you have least control over.

Is the people count on the page realistic?

Treat it as a floor rather than a figure to plan tightly against. It is the manufacturer's guidance for assembling their own kit, not a safe working limit.

The Health and Safety Executive is direct about why no simple number can be quoted in its place: "The weight of a load is important, though the law does not set specific weight limits." Its manual handling guidance also names handling that is done by a team as a trigger for a more detailed assessment in its own right, which is worth knowing before four people take one wall section down a wet side passage.

So the practical version is short. Take the page's figure as the minimum, have one more person available than it asks for, do the carrying on a dry day when the route is firm underfoot, and clear the route the night before rather than on the morning. On the larger cabins it is also worth asking whether the manufacturer offers placement or installation, because where that exists it is stated on the product page and arranged when you order, and it changes what you need to have organised.

What this means when choosing

Access is a real constraint on which cabin you can buy, and it is worth settling early rather than after you have fallen for a six person room.

If your only route to the garden is a side passage and two of you will be doing the carrying, the cabins asking for a base of about 1.9 metres or less are the ones built around that: the France Sauna Gaïa Urban and the Holl's Cocoon 130 at 1.5 by 1.3 metres, and the Harvia Kuusi 180 Panorama and the Almost Heaven barrels, all of which their makers put at two people. If you have drive access and can get three or four people together for a weekend, the larger cabins open up, and with them the six person rooms and the covered terraces.

Either way, the sequence is the same. Measure the largest single part rather than the finished cabin, lay the base before the pallet is booked, and get the electrician's date first. The cabins are under outdoor saunas, and if you are still deciding which one rather than how to get it in, our outdoor sauna buying guide takes the five decisions in the order they have to be made.

Sources

• Tarnfell, Delivery. Kerbside terms, mainland Britain, and the pre-dispatch access check. Read 23 September 2026.
• Tarnfell product pages for the Harvia Kuusi 180 Panorama, Holl's Hestia 160, Holl's Cocoon 130, Holl's Onyxia Barrel, France Sauna Gaïa Urban, France Sauna Gaïa Nova and Almost Heaven Audra, for pallet weights, people counts, base sizes and circuit ratings. Read 23 September 2026, prices re-read 24 September 2026.
• Health and Safety Executive, Manual handling at work. Read 23 September 2026.