I tried soaking in a vat of warm seaweed as I viewed Menai Strait

MY mornings are not normally like this. Instead of my usual chaotic routine of chain-drinking coffee and searching for clean socks, it’s 9am and I’m soaking in a vat of warm seaweed like a budget Gwyneth Paltrow because, apparently, this is self-care now.

- By PORTIA JONES

I'm not at some bougie retreat in Switzerland with a questionable shaman; I'm sitting in an upcycled whisky barrel looking out over the Menai Strait in Anglesey at the Halen Mon salt factory.

These wild seaweed baths are a relatively new wellness offering from the award-winning salt purveyors.

The idea is that visitors can tour the Halen Mon salt factory, shop in the store and soak outdoors in “wonderfully warm” 40C water filled with fresh, cleaned seaweed.

It's a novel concept, but this is Wales, and things are different here.

Anglesey’s Halen Mon is best known for its award-winning sea salt, hand-harvested from the pristine waters of the Irish Sea.

Those glistening flakes of flavour elevate everything from Michelin-starred scallops to your mate's overly ambitious sourdough.

Their salt is so pure and perfect that it frankly makes mere table salt look like it should be banned under the Geneva Convention.

Alison and David Lea-Wilson, the husband-and-wife team behind the successful brand, put it down to their secret weapon: the pristine waters of the Menai Strait, as the area provides perfect conditions for sea salt harvesting.

The result is some of the world’s finest-flake sea salt, enjoyed worldwide by chefs, food lovers and even Barack Obama.

It’s been served at the London 2012 Olympics, political summits and royal weddings and is a vital ingredient in Green and Black's chocolate and Piper's Crisps.

In a plot twist no one saw coming (but we're all for), Halen Mon has surprisingly branched into wellness.

They've turned the crystal-clear water behind their famous sea salt into an alfresco bath experience featuring nutrient-dense seaweed and warm water-filled whiskey barrels - all while you soak up views of Eryri National Park.