Star Bathing: The Simple Pleasure of Looking Up
What Is Star Bathing?
Following on from last month’s blog on forest bathing, star bathing is stargazing in its simplest form. No telescopes, no astronomy apps and no need to know one constellation from another. It is simply about slowing down, letting your eyes adjust to the darkness and looking up.
And there’s a reason it can feel so good.
Looking up at a huge, star-filled sky can create that lovely feeling of awe – the same sort of feeling you get standing at the top of a mountain, watching a brilliant sunset or seeing the sea stretching out in front of you.
Star bathing has been widely connected to improved mental and physical health, including less stress, and higher levels of creativity.
We’re not suggesting an evening looking at the stars is a cure for everything, but there is something wonderfully grounding about being reminded just how big the world is – and, for a little while, how small some of our everyday worries really are.
Dark Skies, Right Outside Your Cabin
We’re incredibly lucky with the skies here.
Herefordshire is recognized as one of England’s darkest counties, thanks to its wide open countryside and low levels of light pollution. With The Fold sitting just a few miles from the boarder of Bannau Brycheiniog – the Brecon Beacons National Park, which has been an International Dark Sky Reserve since 2013, we could barely be situated better to give an unforgettable night sky experience.
Better still, you don’t need to go anywhere to enjoy it.
The Best Seat in the House
You don’t even necessarily have to step outside.
The A-Frame, Nova Dome and Scandi Cabin all have skylights or glazing above the bed, so you can lie beneath the duvet and look straight up at the night sky.
Although, if we had to choose, we’d still head outside.
Run the Treehouse’s outdoor copper bath, climb into a wood-fired hot tub, wrap yourself in a blanket on the deck or simply take a drink outside and sit quietly for a while.
Give your eyes fifteen or twenty minutes to adjust, turn the lights down and put the phone away if you can.
You’ll be surprised how much more appears the longer you look.
Why September and October?
September and October might just be our favourite time of year for it.
The nights are beginning to draw in, so you don’t have to wait until really late for proper darkness, but there’s still a good chance of a pleasantly mild evening before winter arrives. Before the clocks go back at the end of October, there’s a lovely little window between summer’s long evenings and the colder nights to come.
September is particularly lovely because the Milky Way can still be visible across the night sky, especially on a clear night around the new moon.
Then October brings a little extra excitement, with the Draconid and Orionid meteor showers giving you the chance to spot a shooting star or two.
And really, that’s the beauty of it.
You don’t need to plan anything. You don’t need perfect conditions. You don’t even need to know what you’re looking at.
Just step outside, get comfortable and look up.
Sometimes the best moments at The Fold are the simplest ones.