◆ Sample Work · Spa & Retreat · Mystical Voice ← Return to the Shire
★ Now welcoming Spring guests — and dear soul, do not delay; the field is wide and the door is already open.
— a small house at the edge of the field —

"Out beyond ideas of right and wrong,
there is a field. I'll meet you there."

"What you seek is seeking you. We have stocked the steam room, drawn the warm bath, lit the salt lamps. The hot stones are heated to ninety-eight degrees, which is, you may notice, the temperature of you."

— a verse from the proprietor, ahead of your arrival

A small hammam, garden, and stillness-house on a quiet street, in the manner of the old caravanserais. Massage, steam, hot stones, herbal tea. Cell phones go in a drawer. Shoes go by the door. The rest is between you and yourself.

Book an Hour Read the Menu
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"Listen to the reed, how it tells a tale, complaining of separations."

The reed flute is cut from the reed bed, dear guest, and from that first cut it sings. It does not sing because it is broken. It sings because it is broken — because the wound in its side is also the place the breath passes through. We say this not to make poetry of pain, but because it is, plainly, the principle of the house.

You will arrive tired. You will arrive carrying. You will perhaps arrive rolling something over and over in your head that will not roll itself smooth. We have known this. We have built the rooms for it.

The hot bath is one hundred and four degrees. The steam room is cedar and eucalyptus. The garden is small and full of bees that the keeper has trained, more or less, to ignore the guests. The teas are blended on Tuesdays, and the bread, on Wednesdays. The massage table is heated. The robe is yours for the duration. The silence is yours forever.

If you cry while the stones are warm on your back, no one will mention it. The wound, after all, is the place where the light enters you. We are simply the room around it.

— from the Welcome Letter, given to every guest at arrival
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— our offerings, this season —

A small menu, quietly kept.

All treatments include the hammam, the garden, a robe, a tea, and as much silence as you would like to take with you. Tip is included; gratuity boxes have been removed; everyone here is paid a living wage and we will not pretend otherwise.

The Reed Cut massage
— 60 minutes —

The Reed Cut · A Beginning Massage

"Don't look for the answer outside the question — the breath knows where it has been."
A grounding full-body massage with rose-otto oil and slow pressure. For the first-time guest, or any guest who has been carrying a great deal lately. Includes hammam beforehand and tea afterward.
60 min · sea-salt prep$150
Hot basalt stones
— 90 minutes —

The Stones, Heated · A Quiet Hour

"Let the beauty we love be what we do — let the stones do the talking, just this once."
Hot basalt stones placed along the spine and the chakra line, with a slow head and shoulder massage between. The body listens. The mind, eventually, does too.
90 min · 8 stones$215
Hammam exfoliation ritual
— 75 minutes —

The Hammam Ritual · Steam & Salt

"Be ground. Be crumbled. Wildflowers will come up where you are."
Traditional Anatolian-style steam, full-body Moroccan black-soap exfoliation, ghassoul clay wrap, and a final cool rinse. The skin, the breath, and the patience all soften, in that order.
75 min · gommage$185
Spa relaxation room
— 120 minutes —

The Long Afternoon · A Whole-House Soak

"Sit, be still and listen — for you are drunk and we are at the edge of the roof."
A two-hour booking of the full house: hammam, steam, garden, lounge, two pots of tea, an hour of bodywork, and as long as you'd like in the rest room afterward. Couples welcome; solo guests cherished.
120 min · full house$320
Zen walking path
— 50 minutes —

The Sema · A Walking Meditation

"Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, when you've torn the bandage off."
A guided walking meditation in the small garden, led by the proprietor, on subjects that change with the season. No prior experience needed. No experience, in fact, of any kind.
50 min · group of 6 max$60
Spa hotel room
— overnight —

The Caravanserai · One Night's Stay

"There are travelers who arrive at the inn before they have even left."
A single overnight room above the spa. Includes evening hammam, dinner of the proprietor's choosing, breakfast in the garden, and an hour of bodywork the following morning. Booked one at a time.
1 night · 1 guest only$480
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— what we offer at the front door —

Three vessels, all guests find them.

☕

Tea, kept hot

Always available, never asked for. Three blends — a calming, an awakening, and a third we will not describe. Drink as much as you like. Take a tin home if it suits you.

🍞

Bread, on Wednesdays

Baked by the proprietor's husband, who is the better cook of the two and has stopped pretending otherwise. Served in the garden between treatments. Honey from the bees out back.

🤫

Silence, all hours

The most popular of the three. We do not require it. We simply make it abundantly available. Most guests find more of it than they expected.

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— letters left in the Welcome Book —

From those who came through.

"I came in carrying. I left lighter. I cannot tell you what was put down — only that it was, and that the woman who took it from me did not seem surprised at the weight."

— A.K.October · stayed two hours, came back the next morning

"The hammam alone is worth the train ride. The proprietor reads people the way some folks read the weather: without fuss, with accuracy, and without making a show of either."

— J.M.February · annual guest since opening

"I asked her, on my way out, what the third tea was. She said: 'the one you didn't know you were thirsty for.' I have thought about it most days since."

— S.O.March · first-time guest, now monthly

"I do not believe in this sort of thing. I do, however, sleep better the nights I leave here, and that is a fact I have stopped arguing with."

— D.R.summer · gift card from a colleague, used grudgingly, redeemed three times since
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— book a quiet hour —

The door is already open.

Same-day bookings welcome when we have space; weekends should be reserved a week ahead. If the time you want is taken, write to us anyway — we keep a small list, and the universe is, occasionally, generous.