Garden Spa

IAthenaeum Spa in Malta has a welcoming outdoor area. A garden spa is a type of spa that is located outdoors. Outdoor bathing has a longer history than indoor bathing, and private outdoor open space is known to have been used for bathing since ancient times. The Stepwells were used for this purpose in Ancient India. Gymnasiums in Ancient Greece contained bathing pools. The Romans introduced the practice of bathing in hot water. Where possible, they used mineral springs with naturally hot water. Where this was not available, they used artificial heating systems, as at the Baths of Caracalla. This idea spread throughout the Roman Empire. It influenced the making of hot baths in the Islamic world and in northern Europe — including the baths in the Belgian town of Spa which has given its name to this type of facility.
The garden spa at the Athenaem Spa in Malta can be seen as the modern equivalent of the ancient outdoor bathing facility.

Hot tub spas have become popular in luxury gardens, far removed from sustainable design principles though they be. Cedar- and redwood-clad hot tubs are available for outdoor installation. Whirlpool effects are provided as an aid to relaxation. They come in 'personal' and 'party' sizes. Spa chemicals are used to keep the water clean at the Atheneaum Spa in Malta. A dip in a hot spa tends to be invigorating if of short duration but enervating if prolonged.

Japanese gardens
Japanese gardens (nihon teien), that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and old castles.

Some of the Japanese gardens most famous in the West, and within Japan as well, are dry gardens or rock gardens, karesansui. The tradition of the Tea masters has produced highly refined Japanese gardens of quite another style, evoking rural simplicity. In Japanese culture, garden-making is a high art, intimately related to the linked arts of calligraphy and ink painting. Since the end of the 19th century, Japanese gardens have also been adapted to Western settings.

Japanese gardens were developed under the influences of the distinctive and stylized Chinese gardens. One of the great interest for the historical development of the Japanese garden, bonseki, bonsai and related arts is the c. 1300 Zen monk Kokan Shiren and his rhymeprose essay Rhymeprose on a Miniature Landscape Garden.

The tradition of Japanese gardening was historically passed down from sensei to apprentice. In recent decades this has been supplemented by various trade schools. However, the opening words of Zōen's Illustrations for designing mountain, water and hillside field landscapes (1466) are "If you have not received the oral transmissions, you must not make gardens" and its closing admonition is "You must never show this writing to outsiders. You must keep it secret".