This Ontario wellness retreat has you staying in a tiny box in the middle of the woods
This secluded wellness retreat in Ontario is perhaps the most serene way to reconnect with nature without sacrificing on luxury.
Wellness may be the buzzword to end all buzzwords in 2025, being co-opted by everything from luxury clubs offering some seriously Cronenbergian-sounding services to cold plunge camps that encourage you to take a dip in frozen lakes, but it's not without reason.
In 2025, when the world seems to be careening ever deeper into utter chaos, the notion that there are concrete steps (that can come in varying degrees of scientific complexity) we can take to support our own — say it with me — wellness, is a comfort.
It's a small way to feel in control of an otherwise out-of-control period in human history.
But that's not why I called you here. I only bring it up because Garth and Rebecca Bigelow, who own Muskoka-based vacation rental venture Unique Stays, have found a similar sense of peace in the whole 'wellness' thing, and they're about to launch a truly one-of-a-kind new concept that's a wellness fanatic's dream.
Upon launching their first property, which was a family cottage on the Muskoka River that they'd rent out when they weren't using it in 2017, the Guelph-based couple (Garth, a flooring store owner and Rebecca, a respiratory therapist) hadn't necessarily been banking on discovering a new, shared passion for creating unique vacation rentals — just a means of offsetting the cost of maintaining the cottage.
Instead, though, passion is exactly what they found.
Photo by @evelynbarkey.
In 2019, they launched Aux Box, a modular mico-cabin which, quite literally, looks to the naked eye to be a wood-and-glass box placed smack dab in the middle of the woods.
"We wanted a simple, modern design that blended seamlessly with the Muskoka landscape — a space where guests could unplug, recharge, and immerse in the natural surroundings," Rebecca tells blogTO.
"It started very simply, with solar panels, a compost toilet and no running water."
The building itself came from a modular building company by the same name owned by a friend who, along with Garth and his brother Craig, worked together to design and build a custom model just for the Muskoka property.
They managed to complete the project within one week.
Over time, rentals allowed Garth and Rebecca to slowly but surely upgrade the cabin, adding on amenities including a hot tub, shower, new furniture and updated decor to reflect the couple's decidedly Scandinavian-influenced taste.
While the mere experience of spending time surrounded by nature (and you don't get much more surrounded than at Aux Box) is enough to give your mind, body and soul a complete reset, Garth and Rebecca have now embarked on a whole new project to upgrade Aux Box into the ultimate wellness experience.
"Over the past few years, we've fallen in love with the Nordic spa experience — places like Othership became our go-to for relaxation and recharging," Rebecca, who's even added hot and cold plunges to her own home, tells blogTO.
"As we were planning the Aux Box revamp, amenities like a sauna and cold plunge kept coming up in our discussions. We realized they were must-haves for our new concept: a luxurious private wellness-based retreat in the woods."
Since you get the entire place to yourself during your stay, you don't have to worry about sharing tubs or pools with strangers. Instead, the worst-case scenario is that a little bird or woodland creature perches on the rim of the tub like you're Cinderella, and that doesn't sound half bad at all.
On top of the trendy wellness add-ons, they're also in the process of adding some more practical elements, like an indoor shower and an extended kitchenette, to make the stay more comfortable.
To top it all off, Rebecca and Garth have stocked the guest house with items from some of their favourite Canadian brands, including towels and robes from Pokoloko, handmade pottery from Ye11ow Studio, furniture from Sundays, Hatch Coffee, Pluck Tea, and a custom bed and table from a local furniture maker right in Muskoka.
"We love staying at places that feel curated and special, and we wanted to bring that same feeling to our guests, so we have pulled from all of our personal stay experiences over the years and added those details into the Aux Box," Rebecca says.
While Aux Box is currently closed for renovations, Rebecca tells blogTO that they'll be open for the summer season.
You can learn more about Aux Box, or book it for yourself, by visiting Unique Stays' website.
Aux Box Muskoka
